Huge, and I mean huge, team news for Liverpool FC heading into their next Premier League fixture, at home versus AFC Bournemouth tomorrow. No. 1 Alisson Becker, is out injured for a couple weeks.
“Unfortunately Ali is out,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed on Friday. “He had a little incident in training before the Chelsea game. We all thought it was nothing and it was clear he would not play anyway, the plan was he was on the bench. There, we thought, ‘Come on, we don’t have to take any risks’ so left him out of the squad. [There was a] scan the next day and they found something. So now he is out. We will see next week for sure and then we will see.”
Klopp did not shy away from revealing details on his injury (so he’s like the anti-Bill Belichick): “Muscle, slight, in the hip region. A small muscle. You [the reporters] could all do your work still but a professional goalkeeper is slightly different. That’s the situation.”
Tumbling from the top of the power rankings, the Reds are looking to regain form, despite a couple more fitness concerns.
Elsewhere team captain Jordan Henderson (hamstring) remains out, and this match will come a bit too soon for him. Finally Xherdan Shaqiri (knock) and Nathaniel Clyne (knee) are still out indefinitely. Turning to the Cherries, they have four players out injured:
Arnaut Danjuma (ankle), David Brooks (ankle), Charlie Daniels (knee), Chris Mepham (knee, all unknown)
Liverpool FC vs AFC Bournemouth FYIs
Mar 7, 12:30 pm local, Anfield
Liverpool starting XI: go to this link
TV: BT Sport 1
Result Probability via Google: Liverpool win 76%, Draw 16%, AFC Bournemouth win 8%
Odds: Liverpool win 1/5, Draw 9/2, AFC Bournemouth win 12/1
Referee: Paul Tierney
Form Guide: Liverpool LWWWW (wow, what’s an L doing in there?) AFC Bournemouth DLLWW
Prediction: Liverpool 2, AFC Bournemouth 0
The Reds have had a shocking week (or two), but they’re going to get back on their winning ways eventually, and probably soon.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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