Liverpool have been dealt a further injury blow to their strikeforce with Darwin Nunez emerging as a fresh doubt for this weekend’s trip to Brighton.
The Uruguayan has missed the past few days’ training with an unspecified “minor” injury.
Manager Jurgen Klopp will want to give Nunez every chance of featuring, given the number of absentees already. Diogo Jota (calf) and Luis Diaz (knee) are long-term injury victims and Roberto Firmino (calf) has been missing since the post-World Cup resumption.
Defender Virgil van Dijk damaged a hamstring during the recent defeat by Brentford.
When Klopp assesses why his side have been unable to keep pace with the title contenders, the reason behind so many injury setbacks will be high on the agenda. Where muscular issues such as that suffered by Van Dijk are concerned, there’s no doubt the severity of his workload has taken its toll.
Klopp said: “We have to reduce games; FA Cup replays or whatever. It’s just because the best players play all the time. People tell us to leave them out and rotate, but who leaves their best players out? It’s not that easy.”
Other injuries, such as that of Diaz, are more freakish due to contact with an opponent – in that case against Arsenal – although the Colombian suffered a setback in his rehabilitation when he returned last month.
Under Klopp, Liverpool have revamped their physiotherapy and sports science department in an effort to prevent muscle injuries and aid the speed of rehabilitation.
