Liverpool injury latest: Alexander Isak, Jeremie Frimpong and more

Anfield’s stoppage-time heartbreak against Manchester City has tightened the race for a top-four finish and intensified Arne Slot’s weekly puzzle of who can actually take the pitch. While no new knocks were added during the 2-1 loss, the manager is already without a cluster of influential names, and the suspension of Dominik Szoboszlai—sent off for denying Erling Haaland a clear chance—has removed another creative option for the upcoming trip to Sunderland.

Right-back remains the most patched-up area of the pitch. Jeremie Frimpong, the summer signing brought in to add pace and width, has not trained since being forced off early in the 6-0 Champions League win over Qarabag with a muscle complaint. Slot ruled the Dutchman out of the City game and, after the final whistle, delivered the same verdict for the Stadium of Light meeting. “We knew when he got injured it was a few weeks,” Slot said, though he offered a sliver of encouragement: the lay-off is shorter than initially feared. Liverpool are pencilling in a possible return for the Dutchman away to Nottingham Forest on 21 February, a reappearance that would restore balance to a flank currently reliant on makeshift solutions.

Further up the pitch, Alexander Isak’s fractured fibula—sustained in a challenge from Micky van de Ven during the 2-1 win at Tottenham—continues to deprive Liverpool of a mobile, clinical striker. Surgery was required on the Swedish forward’s ankle and leg, and Slot has long since accepted the absence will be measured in months rather than weeks. “It’s going to be a long injury, for a couple of months,” the manager reiterated, targeting a March 2026 comeback. Should that schedule hold, Isak would return for the run-in, offering both depth and a different attacking dimension at a decisive stage of the campaign.

Central defence is equally threadbare. Joe Gomez’s hip issue, picked up at Bournemouth, has left Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate as the only senior centre-backs available. Slot does not anticipate the England defender being risked against Sunderland, with Brighton’s visit on 14 February floated as a tentative re-entry point. “I don’t expect Joe back for Wednesday,” Slot admitted. “Then he is back from being out for three weeks—would you play him now?”

The situation at right-back is compounded by Conor Bradley’s long-term absence. The Northern Irishman damaged his knee in the closing moments of the Premier League defeat at Arsenal and has since undergone surgery. Liverpool confirmed no timeline will be set until rehabilitation is well under way at the AXA Training Centre, though summer 2026 is viewed as the realistic horizon for his return.

With Szoboszlai also unavailable, Slot’s task over the coming weeks is clear: balance minutes, recovery and risk while navigating a condensed fixture list that could yet define the club’s European ambitions.