Liverpool Midfielder Suspended For Premier League Clash With West Ham United
Liverpool will be without the services of key midfielder against West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday. The Reds stretched their lead at the summit of the league table following a 3-1 win over Leicester City at Anfield on Boxing Day.
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Arne Slot's side fell behind to a Jordan Ayew goal in the sixth minute of the game but Cody Gakpo put Liverpool back on level terms before the break.
Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah put the result beyond doubt in the second 45 minutes as Liverpool opened up a seven points lead after second-placed Chelsea lost 2-1 to Fulham earlier in the day.
Dominik Szoboszlai started from the bench despite playing a key role in Liverpool's 6-3 win over Tottenham Hotspur before Christmas. He was one booking away from suspension due to the accumulation of yellow cards.
Moments after entering the pitch, the 24-year-old was shown a yellow card for a tactical foul, hence he will miss the game against West Ham at the London Stadium.
A club statement read: "Dominik Szoboszlai will be suspended for Liverpool’s Premier League clash with West Ham United on Sunday evening.
"The Hungarian received his fifth yellow card of the top-flight campaign during the Boxing Day victory over Leicester City at Anfield.
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"Accumulating five bookings within the opening 19 fixtures of the season incurs an automatic one-match ban, which Szoboszlai will serve when the Reds visit London Stadium this weekend."
Szoboszlai becomes the second Liverpool player this season to pick up five bookings following on from Alexis Mac Allister. Darwin Nunez, Ryan Gravenberch, Gakpo, and the injured Ibrahima Konate are also at risk of suspension if they pick up another booking before the first 19 games of the season are complete.
Speaking after the win over Leicester, Arne Slot said: "First of all, it’s important to win a game and I think we should win at home against Leicester, but I had the same feeling against Fulham and Nottingham Forest; so, you always have to do a lot, especially in the Premier League, to win a game.
"And that was also [the case] today, because we went 1-0 down. The league table is something of course we are aware of, but we also understand how many games there are still to play."
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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