Liverpool are quickly entering somewhat of an injury crisis this season already and Joel Matip looks to have become the ninth player on the treatment table.
As reported by Sam Wallace for The Telegraph: ‘Liverpool are facing up to another potential injury absentee in defence ahead of Monday’s Premier League game against Crystal Palace, with Joel Matip understood to be a doubt.
‘The club are already struggling with a long injury list and as a precaution, Matip, an important figure last season, sat out of training on Friday in the hope he might possibly be ready for the Palace game. The 31-year-old, who played against Fulham in the season opener, has a groin problem.
‘It means that Joe Gomez, should he be fully fit, is likely to partner Virgil van Dijk in defence with Matip out of the picture. Injury to a patella tendon in the 2020-2021 season meant Gomez did not play a game that campaign after November. The Englishman featured in 21 games last season and he is being carefully monitored. He trained with the squad on Friday’.
The defender joins Thiago Alcantara, Ibrahima Konate, Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Calvin Ramsay, Caoimhin Kelleher and possibly Kostas Tsimikas – who are all set to miss the match against Crystal Palace.
This is a huge blow for Jurgen Klopp and our supporters will already feel like they are returning to the 2020/21 campaign, when injuries to our defence ravaged the team.
We enter our first Anfield match of the campaign with the knowledge that there is only Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez available to start, with Nat Phillips becoming the third most experienced available central defender.
It’s not the worst situation to be in and will of course see a return to the defensive duo that was used for the majority of the games in the season when we won the league.
We can only hope that our No.32 is joined by his fellow French defender in returning to the first-team squad quickly.
For now though, it’ll be a case of keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that we’re not hit with any further injury issues in the coming weeks.
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