Liverpool boss Arne Slot says midfielder Florian Wirtz is not available for the Reds home game against West Ham on Saturday.
Wirtz picked up an injury in the warm-up before their win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday and has not been pictured in training this week.
The Liverpool manager said today: “Unfortunately, this week and last week he’s not available and that’s, indeed, a disappointment for him and also for us.”
Slot has confirmed right back Jeremie Frimpong will be available after a period on the sidelines following an injury against Qarabag in the Champions League.
Earlier in the season, Liverpool beat West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium.
It was a result that ended a three-game winless run in the league for and marked the start of a 13-game unbeaten streak in all competitions.
On the long-term impact of that result, Slot said: “It was an important win over there.
“A good win, we played well, as we did so many times but this time it also resulted in a win.”
Liverpool’s talisman, Mo Salah, goes into the game amid the longest goal drought of his Premier League career, having gone nine games without a goal in the competition.
The manager added: “He has set his own standards, and those are so, so, so high that the moment when he doesn’t score for a few games, people are immediately surprised.
“That is probably the biggest compliment he can get.”
The Reds face West Ham coming off the back of three wins and three clean sheets in a row in all competitions.
On the significance of Liverpool’s goalkeeping options, Slot said: “In an ideal world you don’t need a goalkeeper… but the good thing for us is if we do need a goalkeeper, we have an outstanding one.
He went on to say: “We don’t only have one good goalkeeper, we have Giorgi Mamardashvili [too].”
Slot said he believes Mamardashvili has the quality to be the first-choice keeper for The Reds.
Slot praised the teenager and said: “You see that his playing time has improved massively over the last few weeks, and the reason for that is that he developed: he became a better player.”
Liverpool kick off at 3pm on Saturday knowing a win is vital to maintain their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
(Featured image by Joe Schlip, under Wikimedia Creative Commons)
