Liverpool face Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League at Anfield but one of their players will be walking a disciplinary tightrope.
Sign up to The LFC Bulletin with Will Rooney
Sign up
Thank you for signing up!
Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to LiverpoolWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Submitting...
Arne Slot has already admitted that he is working with a paucity of outfield players.
The Liverpool boss opted to trim the number of senior players he has around his set-up in the summer. And it means that when injuries do bite, they take their toll.
When the Reds face Brighton at Anfield, they will be without at least five first-team players. That is discounting whether Mo Salah’s situation is resolved and he is recalled.
Cody Gakpo (muscle) and Wataru Endo (ankle) have been ruled out of action for several weeks, joining Jeremie Frimpong (hamstring) and Giovanni Leoni (ACL) on the treatment table. Slot will have no natural right-back at his disposal, with Conor Bradley unavailable.
After returning from a hamstring issue in last weekend’s 3-3 draw at Leeds United, Bradley collected a fifth Premier League yellow card of the season. According to The FA's disciplinary rules, ‘any player who earns five bookings from their side's first 19 Premier League matches of a season will have to serve a one-match ban in the same competition. Premier League yellow cards are not carried over to the EFL Cup or FA Cup’.
Bradley’s absence means that Joe Gomez will likely continue on the right-hand side of defence against Brighton.
And while Bradley will be watching from the sidelines, Dominik Szoboszlai will be walking a disciplinary tightrope when he faces the Seagulls. The midfielder has undoubtedly been Liverpool’s best player this campaign, having operated in multiple positions.
With Salah absent, Szoboszlai stepped up to fire home an 88th-minute penalty to earn a 1-0 victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League earlier this week. It took his tally to five goals and five assists in 22 appearances.
“I've asked a lot of him, a lot of different positions,” Slot said on Szoboszlai afer the game. “Although no matter what position he plays, I always try to bring him in certain positions. I think what is also special with him is how much he runs in a game. So, he's one of the few players that played four games in the last 10 days. Maybe Ibou also all the time 90 [minutes] together with Virgil, but they play in a different position, so centre-backs don't run as much as midfielders have to do.
“So, it's special what he's doing physically but also football-wise because, again, he played a good game and he stood up in a difficult moment. Because it's not easy, 86 minutes, your first penalty for Liverpool, I think - maybe in the [Community] Shield, so in other moments – during a game on 0-0, so that's a special moment. But he has a great shot and he delivered because he takes a lot of penalties for the national team and for his former clubs as well.”
However, Szoboszlai has been booked four times so far. He went into the book against Everton, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Manchester City. Should the Hungary international be cautioned against Brighton then he will be banned for the trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday 20 December. Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Milos Kerkez are all on three yellow cards respectively.