Arne Slot Provides Fresh Injury Update On Conor Bradley And Ibrahima Konate Ahead Of West Ham Clash
Arne Slot has delivered a fresh injury update on defenders Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate ahead of Liverpool's Premier League clash against West Ham United on Sunday.
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The pair suffered injuries against Real Madrid in the Champions League at Anfield in late November and have missed the Reds' last seven matches across all competitions. Bradley and Konate are yet to resume full training as they work their way back to fitness.
The defensive duo will once again miss the encounter at the London Stadium against Julen Lopetegui's side. The Premier League leaders head into the game on the back of a 3-1 win over Leicester City on Boxing Day while 10-man West Ham also picked up all three points at Southampton.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Arne Slot said: “They will not be back for West Ham United, but then there is a week in between [before the game against Manchester United] so let’s see how close they are then.
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“It’s difficult for me to tell you at this moment because they don’t train with the group yet, but hopefully in the upcoming days they come closer to that situation. And then again, Ibou has been out then for five or six weeks maybe, Conor just as long I think, the same amount.
“And also for them, they are in competition with players that are completely fit and doing really well, so I have to make the right judgement the moment they are back with the team.”
Diogo Jota recently returned from a two-month injury lay-off. The 27-year-old climbed off the bench for the fourth match in a row to feature for Liverpool against the Foxes.
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Asked how close Jota is to starting again or whether his fitness is still being managed, Slot added: “I think the last thing, for sure, we’re still managing his fitness. He has been out for quite a long time and he couldn’t train that much.
“Sometimes if a player has an injury he can do a lot, but he couldn’t do a lot for quite a long time. Since this league is so intense, it’s not so easy if you are almost two months out to come in and play from the start again.
“You need to have some minutes to build this up. And he is in competition with some other special players as well who are at this moment also on top of their game.
“He is gradually building it up and I think he comes close to starting a game, but like I said, he has competition in this position as well.”
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LFC Transfer Room Football Correspondent. Covered the fortunes of Liverpool for the past three years. Follow Joseph on X (formerly Twitter) @joseph_agbobli