Two injured Liverpool players ‘in with a shout’ of being back fit to face Brighton in the Carabao Cup

Add as preferred source on Google

Liverpool have so far navigated a fairly punishing fixture schedule very impressively since the October international break.

Much had been made of the Reds’ difficult run of games across October and November.

But having beaten both Chelsea and RB Leipzig and collected a good-looking draw against Arsenal, Liverpool are showing their credentials as title challengers.

As well as making a go of it in the Premier League, though, the Reds are also expected to put up a good defence of the Carabao Cup they won last term.

Having already handsomely beaten West Ham at Anfield in the competition, Liverpool travel to face Brighton in the fourth round on Wednesday.

With another league test against the Seagulls to come on Saturday, Arne Slot will be expected to rotate his Liverpool squad fairly heavily. And the Dutchman looks like he may be boosted by the return of two injured players.

Federico Chiesa and Conor Bradley could return

Although the narrative for Sunday’s game was that Arsenal were the more depleted team, Liverpool do have a few injuries themselves.

The Reds were without Federico Chiesa, Conor Bradley, Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota and Alisson Becker for the trip to the Emirates Stadium.

And although it seems as though the latter trio are still facing some time on the sidelines, journalist David Lynch says that Chiesa and Bradley could be in contention for the Brighton match.

Speaking to Anfield Agenda ahead of the game, Lynch said that his ‘impression’ was that both players are ‘in with a shout’ of featuring.

READ MORE: Arne Slot hints that Liverpool star is about to get a lot more game time

“The impression I got from Slot the last time we saw him is that Chiesa and Bradley are in with a shout of being back in the squad for the Brighton game in midweek, which would be a boost,” said the reporter.

“Beyond that, I’m kind of struggling to see Jota being back for this one,” Lynch added. “Maybe he might be ready for the weekend, we’ll have to see around that one. Because it’s bruising and not a break I’m a little bit more optimistic that it’s not too long but we’ll have to see.

“Chiesa and Bradley should be two you would hope would be back in the squad for this one.”

Liverpool down to the bare bones

Virgil van Dijk mocked Arsenal’s supposed injury ‘crisis‘ after Sunday’s draw at the Emirates.

But while the media seem intent to focus on the players the Gunners do not have available right now, Liverpool have some worries of their own.

With so many games coming up over the next couple of weeks still, Slot does not have a lot of options for rotation.

Having Chiesa and Bradley back would be an enormous step in the right direction where that is concerned, but having missed a few weeks, neither will surely be likely to start.

As a result, Slot is going to have to think of something different. Trent Alexander-Arnold cannot start again at right-back, while the forward line is already stretched without Jota, too. The Liverpool head coach is down to the bare bones a little for this one, so we may ultimately see a stronger team than many expect.