Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed the bad news at his news conference today: Reds defenders Conor Bradley (hamstring) and Ibrahima Konate (knee) are ruled out due to injury on Sunday.
However, there is some good news- first choice left back Andy Robertson is back available.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool FYIs
Kick-off: 4.30pm (BST), Sunday Dec 22, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK
Starting XI Predictions: Liverpool FC Tottenham Hotspur
Team News: Liverpool FC Tottenham Hotspur
Google Result Probability: Tottenham 23%, Draw 22% Liverpool 55%
“These are the two that are still ‘in the red’, so they don’t train with us at the moment,” the first year head coach said. “They are on their way back but they don’t train with the team yet.”
“That is, what I’ve said before, quite difficult.
“We thought, I thought, that [Diogo] Jota would have been back a bit earlier already and sometimes the end stage of rehab takes a bit longer.
He then went on to elaborate on the typical injury recovery, rehabilitation and re-integration process.
“Sometimes they join [training] and then they are like, ‘I’m not completely ready to start yet.’ So, let’s wait and see but we have very good rehab personnel over here and they’ve done some good work already with Alisson [Becker] and a few others.”
“The main thing is that if they come back, they are ready to come back and we must not focus on one, two or three days. It’s more important for the long term that they stay fit afterwards.”
Other than that, the team injury/fitness news remains pretty much unchanged for the league leaders.
Prediction: Liverpool FC 1, Tottenham Hotspur 0
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.