Liverpool currently sit outside the top four, but only by one single point. They’re nine points adrift of the top of the table, but we’ll see what happens when the Premier League finally gets around to deciding what the sanctions will be for Manchester City and their breach of financial rules. The longer the league waits, the worse it is for all involved. If City gets hit with a massive point deduction, then the Reds could enter the title chase. Their opponent on Sunday, Brighton & Hove Albion, sit two slots and four points above them. And the Merseyside club enters this clash with three relatively new injury concerns: Victor Munoz, Jeremie Frimpong, Dominik Szoboszlai
Liverpool FC vs Brighton FYIs
Kickoff Time: 3pm BST, Sunday, October 125
Location: Anfield, Liverpool, UK
Google’s Result Probability: Liverpool FC wins 45% Draw 25% Brighton win 30%
Premier League Standings: Liverpool FC 5th, 12 pts Brighton 3rd, 16 pts
Reds Team News
Let’s start with Frimpong, as a couple days ago, we got a definitive timeline on his injury. Liverpool manager Andoni Iraols ruled him out until after the November international break.
“Jeremie is obviously a new muscle injury,” he said. “And it happened, I think, in the second or third minute that he was playing – difficult to predict. We will have to wait until he recovers, but it’s going to be difficult, I think, before the break – we will try.”
With Szobo, we got more bad news on his standing thigh injury.
“He’s not a new injury,” Iraola said.
“I think it’s in the same place he was probably past week. He hasn’t worsened the injury, but probably we have to be a little bit more patient until he recovers fully… he’s more or less in the same situation.”
Victor Munoz is also out injured (knee problem) and he missed training on Thursday. We’ll see if Iraola gives an update on him tomorrow. And then finally, Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni all remain sidelined.
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, Ratings 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 and the Washington Post.