LIVERPOOL were dealt a fresh injury blow in Sunday’s draw with Fulham after Joel Matip was forced off at half-time with a back issue.
It is the latest in a long line of injuries for the Reds, who are now without any of their senior centre-backs with Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez already out.
Joel Matip was forced off with a back injury in Liverpool’s draw with Fulham Credit: Eddie Keogh Telegraph Media Group
It remains to be seen whether Matip was taken off as a precaution ahead of Wednesday’s top-of-the-table crunch clash with Tottenham.
In the event of Matip’s absence, Liverpool would be left with just two fit centre-backs – Nathaniel Phillips, 23, and 19-year-old Rhys Williams.
Jordan Henderson replaced Matip at the back against Fulham, with Takumi Minamino coming on for the former Cameroon international.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp revealed ahead of this weekend’s fixture that summer signing Diogo Jota would also be facing a spell on the sidelines.
The Portuguese forward suffered a knee injury in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Midtjylland in the Champions League and could miss six to eight weeks of action.
Liverpool are also expected to lose left-back Kostas Tsimikas for a similar period of time.
Klopp said: “Yeah, it’s worse than we first thought and better than we then thought.
“All the potential surgeons had a look on it, no surgery needed. But he will be out for a while.
“We don’t know exactly but one-and-a-half, two months. We don’t know exactly.
“It’s pretty similar with Kostas Tsimikas, by the way. Unbelievable.”
Diogo Jota was passed up by Portuguese club for just £2,000 seven years before his dream £45m Liverpool move
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
