Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has ruled both James Tomkins and James McArthur out of Monday’s clash with Liverpool.
In quotes from cpfc.co.uk, Vieira said that both players will be missing for Palace against Liverpool. He did however suggest that Michael Olise may return to the squad at Anfield.
“Michael (Olise) trained all week with the team, so there is a chance that he will be with the squad. The other two (James McArthur and James Tomkins) it will be too short for them,” said the 46-year-old.
Aside from the injured duo, Vieira should have near-enough a full squad to pick from on Monday night.
Liverpool dealt another injury blow
In contrast to Palace, Liverpool’s injury worries are getting ever more worrying. On Friday evening The Athletic reported that Joel Matip was the latest player to sustain an injury.
Although there has been no confirmation either way, that would surely make him a doubt for Monday’s game.
In the short-term, Liverpool should be fine without Matip. It’s about time Joe Gomez stepped up and into the first-team again anyway.
But if the 31-year-old’s issue is anything serious, then Liverpool are looking short. Jurgen Klopp already has a decision to make on whether to keep either Nat Phillips or Sepp van den Berg in the squad.
If Matip is missing as well as Ibrahima Konate, then Klopp may have to keep both around as third and fourth choice. That isn’t ideal.
Nor is it ideal that Liverpool are still missing six more first-team players. Kostas Tsimikas may have returned to training, but Diogo Jota, Thiago Alcantara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones, Caoimhin Kelleher and Konate have not.
Klopp must navigate his way through a tricky start to the season to make sure Liverpool don’t lose ground on their rivals.
Manchester City showed their credentials with a typical 4-0 win earlier today. Liverpool don’t need a similar show of strength against Palace to demonstrate their ability to stay with City, but they do need to win.
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