Liverpool have suffered an injury blow ahead of their Premier League opener against Fulham on Saturday with Curtis Jones ruled out.
The young midfielder, 21, came off the bench in the Community Shield against Manchester City last weekend but suffered a calf injury which is set to rule him out for up to four weeks, according to The Athletic. Liverpool are still yet to discover the full extent of the injury as they await a specialist opinion but he is expected to be ruled out of their first league game.
Jones, who played 27 times for Jurgen Klopp's side last season, was pictured in the stands at Anfield wearing a protective boot the day after the injury. He is the latest in a long line of doubts for Klopp heading into the Premier League campaign.
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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a serious hamstring injury against Crystal Palace in pre-season and is set to miss two or three months, ruling him out against Fulham. Diogo Jota, who signed a new contract this week, is also expected to be ruled out with a thigh injury suffered early in pre-season.
Back-up goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has a groin injury, but fortunately first-choice Alisson is set to be available after an injury ruled him out of the Community Shield. Naby Keita is also likely to be available after missing the win over Manchester City due to illness.
Other concerns for the Reds include Kostas Tsimikas and Ibrahima Konate, who both picked up minor knocks ahead of the game but may not be risked against Fulham. Despite juggling some injury concerns, Klopp stated after the conclusion of their pre-season schedule that his squad "look really good and sharp".
“When you have a pre-season, I’m now long enough in the business that I think I can get a sense of where we are and how good we could be. But yesterday the game was a really good sign because we looked really ready, we looked really sharp and that’s important,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.
“Now we have a full week, and in the end I think we have two full weeks probably for the next two games to prepare. You have to use that as kind of a pre-season, that’s why we played today and now we have to see that we prepare well for Fulham because it’s a different game obviously. But the boys look good and so I’m happy with where we are.
“A little bit lesser injuries would be nice – we were a bit unlucky very early, before we really started training, to be honest, and that doesn’t help. But the boys will come back rather sooner than later and then we have a fuller squad.
“But in the moment, the boys who are available look really good and sharp.”
