Major injury blow for Liverpool as key defender doubtful for Manchester City clash

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate picks up muscle injury before Manchester City tie

Things are going from bad to worse for Liverpool as defender Ibrahima Konate has joined a long list of injury concerns for manager Jurgen Klopp, as per the Athletic (Subscription Required).

The centre-back is said to be doubtful for the Premier League showdown against Manchester City at Anfield tomorrow (October 16). He missed Friday’s training session with a suspected muscle injury.

It remains to be seen if he is ruled out for the clash against the Cityzens or if the Reds were just taking a precautionary measure in training. Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz, and Arthur Melo are already sidelined with injuries

Knock wood, at least Virgil van Dijk is fit otherwise this would have been deja-vu for Liverpool. The Reds had their season derailed in the 2020-21 campaign when a number of their star defenders picked up long-term injuries.

At least it won’t get to a point where we would be forced to start either Fabinho Tavares or Jordan Henderson at centre-backs. Virg could start in that position with Joe Gomez if Konate is ruled out for the game tomorrow.

James Milner can play at right-back and so can Calvin Ramsay, but the Scottish youngster has no experience playing in England. It would be a huge ask for him to start against arguably one of the best football teams in the world.

Hopefully, Konate is not out for long. Ideally, we would want him available for the match against the Cityzens but the next best thing – if he does miss out tomorrow – would be having him back for the PL clash against West Ham United on Wednesday night (October 19) at home.

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• Peter Crouch believes Liverpool versus Manchester City feels like a little one-sided game

The French centre-back would himself hope that he is back in the first-team picture as soon as possible so he has enough time to prove to France that he deserves to fly to the FIFA World Cup next month.