Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be out for six weeks due to the ankle injury he picked up v Flamengo in the Club World Cup Final.
That’s according to the Times, who estimate that the midfielder won’t play for Liverpool again until February.
It’s a bitter blow for the Reds, especially considering Fabinho is also unavailable for an extended period and Gini Wijnaldum missed fixtures recently as well.
Hopefully the Dutchman will be back for tonight’s game with Leicester City – with Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita also fit and in form.
Jurgen Klopp also has the options of James Milner and Adam Lallana, so it’s by no means a crisis – but any more issues and it might start looking like one.
We now have three more games in seven days – before the FA Cup tie with Everton on January 5th – in which we imagine the boss will deploy the kids.
We will of course have Takumi Minamino – another attacking option who can play in either midfield or the front-three – in many ways – just like Ox.