There are two main, and major, questions on the lips of the vast majority of the Anfield faithful right now, can we maintain our title tilt once again in the Premier League given how close and tight knit clubs are at the very top of the table, and then, can we maintain that title tilt given the massive numbers of injuries we have suffered in more recent weeks.
Manchester City’s victory over Brentford on Tuesday evening left all three clubs in the top three separated by just two points with 13 games left to play in the 2023/24 campaign. As manager Jurgen Klopp continued his preparations for the upcoming Luton Town clash, we were going into that game with a one point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s side, and a two point advantage over Mikel Arteta’s third placed Arsenal – with Unai Emery’s Aston Villa a full six points behind them. KickForm Predictions probably would not have picked that top four at this point of the season.
With how tight it is, the title remains a three horse race in effect and almost anything can happen given the number of games that remain, but making that far more difficult from our perspective is that fact that it feels like key and important players are now beginning to drop like flies, just at the worst possible moment in time, and the greatest fear is obviously that our momentum would only naturally suffer because of it.
The Brentford game saw us lose Portuguese international Diogo Jota with a serious knee injury that is now likely to side line him for at least the next few months, and whilst Anfield and Welsh legend Ian Rush felt that Mohamed Salah coming off the bench as his replacement did indicate our depth, it should be noted that the 31 year old Egyptian wizard was himself, making a return from his own recent injury.
With Liverpool continuing to compete on four different fronts and potentially being in for a quadruple silverware success in different competitions, it simply means the games will continue to come thick and fast, it impacts recovery time and the number of games at this late stage of the season means players are naturally more susceptible to injury the more they are involved.
Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside, Rush commented.
“Jota is the most natural finisher at the club. Before he got injured, I would say he was our best player in the past two or three games. Just look at the assist he made for Darwin Nunez, it was incredible. He was playing with confidence. But Jota goes off injured and Mo Salah comes on – that’s the strength of the Liverpool squad and if we can keep that intact, I think we’ll be OK, but it’s easier saying it than doing it.”
Jota is, of course, simply the latest injury we have sustained this season, and we are also now contending with various rumours coming out of Brazil, that if true, suggest goalkeeper Alisson Becker could now also be out for around the month mark having picked up a hamstring problem. The Brentford clash also saw us lose Curtis Jones to a bone ligament injury, and the 23 year old midfielder had very much come of age this year, and really began proving himself in Klopp’s set up, so he will be another loss for the next two games as long as there are not further complications.
We must not forget Darwin Nunez was also substituted at half time with a knock, and Salah according to reports is now a doubt again himself having felt some discomfort following his goal scoring return in the match.
Defender Trent Alexander-Arnold has already been ruled out of the Luton Town clash on Wednesday evening, as well as Sunday’s EFL Cup final at Wembley against Chelsea.
For those fans who like having a crack at predicting the starting XI ahead of matches, have fun with this one. Which ever way you cut it we now have ten players either definitely ruled out with injury, or who are classed as very doubtful starters for this one.
We will have to hope that our injury luck of late turns back in our favour on a ‘sooner the better’ basis, simply to give us the best shot possible of ending the season on a high and with the minimal amount of slip ups as possible, particularly if we have to turn to a few players who would not normally be in Klopp’s thoughts in this way and injuries had not hit.</p
