Liverpool Coach, Arne Slot is hopeful that defender Ibrahima Konate and midfielder Florian Wirtz hasn’t suffered a serious injury following Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal on Sunday, Softfootball reports.
The duo was forced from the pitch in the latter stages of the Anfield showdown and the Reds won the game courtesy of Dominik Szoboszlai’s sublime freekick.
Speaking to Liverpool’s official club media after the encounter, Arne Slot remained hopeful that the injury is not as serious as it looked. First he spoke on Konate, he said:
“He thinks it is cramp and I have no reason to doubt him, although sometimes players talk about cramp and then we make a scan and it is more than that.
“Jeremie Frimpong wasn’t too happy, like some pundits and journalists, when I took him off against Bournemouth because he thought he only had cramp, or only felt a little bit, and he is already out for two or three weeks now. Let’s wait and see.
“On a positive note… Joe Gomez, what a 15 minutes. I had to make one difficult choice today because I had to leave one player out of the squad with only Jeremie Frimpong being injured, so then I only had to make one difficult decision on who I could not take in the squad.
“The good thing was it was a centre-back, Giovanni Leoni, so we are perfectly placed in that position.”
He then switched focus to German international, Florian Wirtz. He cheekily said:
“It wasn’t an injury, it was a welcome to the Premier League!
“After 85 minutes, I don’t think he knew he could have cramp in so many different places and that’s what happened. That is welcome to the Premier League, that is welcome to playing in this intensity against an Arsenal that can play really intense as well.
“If you bring in – as we do – very, very good players, so, so, so talented but from different leagues and young – Florian is 22 and 23 Hugo [Ekitike] – I think it is normal if you are not 27 or 28 you maybe need to make a step towards the Premier League and that’s what these two are doing.”
Liverpool remain the only side in the Premier League this season with three wins and no defeats. After the international break, the Reds face Burnley away from home on September 14.
