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Arne Slot says that it will be another “close call” to find out if Cody Gakpo plays against Southampton in what he described as the first of the three “cup finals” to come for Liverpool next week.
The Dutch striker was a regular starter in attack this season, but missed the victory of Smash and-Grab on Wednesday evening at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League in the last 16 with the recurrence of a small ankle injury.
Gakpo had been originally forced with the blow during the draw north of the Merseyside derby of last month against Everton and seated at the Premier League meetings with Wolves and Aston Villa before returning with the cames of the bench in the victories against Manchester City and Newcastle.
However, he did not lead to the construction of the PSG game and was absent from the Parc des Princes match team, but we could see the hero of Liverpool in alloy Alisson Becker after the full -time whistle, offering the optimism that the injury was not serious.
Asked for a new update on Gakpo before the visit of Bottom Club of Bottom Southampton by Saturday in Anfield, Slot said: “He did not train yesterday, so let’s see if he can train with us today [Friday].
“Again, [a] Call closely that it will probably be. It is not a long -term injury, but he still had a little pain yesterday, so he couldn’t train. Let’s see where it is today, so I cannot yet give you the answer.
Liverpool remains definitely without the injured defenders Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley as well as the young midfielder Tyler Morton, while the winger Ben Doak returned to the club to readjust after surgery on a sustained thigh problem during his loan to Middlesbrough.
With the decisive return leg against PSG to come to Anfield Tuesday before the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle at Wembley next weekend, it is expected that the location will bring to its team changes against Southampton in difficulty with a 13 -point stamp on the title closest to its competitors Arsenal – which has a game in hand – at the Summit Premier League and only 10 games left to play in the top-fight on this term.
However, when they were asked for a possible rotation against the saints, which are at 13 security points, he said: “For me, the one against Southampton is by far the most important, not only because it is the first we play, but it is very important for us.
“If I choose to play other players, it’s because I think it’s the greatest chance of winning the match tomorrow and not because I want to rest for the match against PSG.”
He added on the selection: “If there were three, four, five days between the last match and this one, I would probably have started the same 11 again, even if there were only two days for the next one.
“Since there are only two days between the two and we had to fight very hard and it is not the first game after having been released for three or four weeks, it’s probably the 50th game in three months – I don’t know how much – so you take it into account, but you take the quality of the team you are facing, you take the shape of the players, how much they are in good shape.”
