Liverpool without four players against Brighton for Carabao Cup game after Arne Slot update

Liverpool’s injury problems have continued to grow as the 2024/25 season has unfolded. Arne Slot gave an update on which players won’t be available for the Carabao Cup tie with Brighton when speaking to the media on Tuesday morning.

The Dutchman had the full squad at his disposal for his first match in charge, at Ipswich. From there, though, the problems began increasing to the point that five men were absent for the recent matches with RB Leipzig and Arsenal.

There could still be a quintet of players who aren’t available on Wednesday evening. However, Slot was able to give a positive update on Conor Bradley’s chances of being involved.

• Arne Slot reveals when Diogo Jota will return as Liverpool suffers double injury blow

• Arne Slot has clear stance on surprise Federico Chiesa transfer amid Liverpool struggles

“Conor is training with us again so he could maybe be in the squad tomorrow,” Slot said (via the club website), though that was as good as the news got in terms of potential returnees. “[Diogo] Jota not, Alisson not, Harvey Elliott not, and Federico [Chiesa], I’m not expecting him to be in the squad tomorrow as well,” he added.

Slot also said that he does not expect Elliott or Jota to return prior to the November international break. This would mean them missing the league game with Brighton on Saturday, as well as matches with Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa.

The Liverpool head coach also explained why he is unwilling to put any timescale on when Chiesa might be able to resume his fledgling career with the Reds. “That’s always difficult to say because he goes a bit up and down: sometimes he’s there with us, training for a few days, and then he goes out with injury again,” he said.

“So, I don’t want to put days or weeks on it because I think we just have to make sure he gets in the best possible shape and don’t put any pressure on him by coming up with dates.”

While this level of injury absence across the squad may not appear too bad – despite what everyone associated with Arsenal might tell you – we have seen in the past the damage it can do. Without rotation options, the available players have to play more football than is ideal and eventually they crumble under the strain of the intense workload.

As such, the return of Bradley could enable Trent Alexander-Arnold to have the night off in midweek, which would be an enormous benefit with the continued stream of big games to come. For those waiting to be replaced by Alisson, Chiesa, Elliott and Jota, the wait will go on.