Dominik Szoboszlai was a surprise absentee from the Liverpool squad to face Man United on Sunday, despite the midfielder being available after suspension.
Szoboszlai had been expected to start in the 4.30pm kickoff at Anfield, but when the teamsheet was released 75 minutes beforehand his name was surprisingly absent.
Instead, Arne Slot started an unchanged midfield of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones, with Wataru Endo and Harvey Elliott his options on the bench.
It comes with Szoboszlai the latest player ruled out due to illness, with journalist David Lynch among those to report.
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His layoff follows a similar absence for Federico Chiesa, with Slot remarking on the chances of players missing out with illness in his pre-match press conference.
“I assume everyone is fit,” he told reporters on Friday, confirming Joe Gomez as his only injury.
“Although, we are in the period where some people get sick, but I heard nothing about that yet.”
The decision will have been made not to take a risk with Szoboszlai, which is sensible given the options available to Slot at present.
Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Jones are all in excellent form, while Endo and Elliott have produced bright performances of their own in recent weeks.
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Tyler Morton and Trey Nyoni are also left out of the squad despite having trained in the buildup, with Liverpool’s squad boasting impressive depth at this stage of the season.
The positive news ahead of kickoff at Anfield – which came after concerns the game would be postponed – is that Ibrahima Konate was fit to start and Conor Bradley able to join the substitutes.
Both players have spent five weeks on the sidelines but make a timely return given Gomez’s layoff with a hamstring issue.
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