Just when Liverpool thought the tide was finally turning in terms of their luck on the injury front, they’ve been hit by yet another hammer blow off the back of the defeat to Arsenal.
Having missed the 3-1 loss in north London, Hungarian outlet Index has now reported that Dominik Szoboszlai is facing three to four weeks on the sidelines due to a hamstring problem, which’ll rule him out of several upcoming fixtures in February and possibly even the beginning of March.
That projected timeline indicates that the £120,000-per-week midfielder (Capology) is set to miss the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea later this month, although it’s hoped that he’ll be back in time to face Manchester City in the Premier League on 10 March.
Szoboszlai has unfortunately had a stop-start beginning to 2024, missing four games with a hamstring injury in January before returning to provide an assist against Norwich in the FA Cup and score in last week’s 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea, who are now likely to be spared from facing him again.
The 23-year-old’s energy and thrust in midfield was missed on Sunday, even though Liverpool’s overall performance was so poor that his presence alone mightn’t have salvaged a result.
Nonetheless, having recently been boosted by the returns of Thiago Alcantara, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, the Reds have now suffered yet another setback by this latest news on the Hungarian, who joins Mo Salah on the injured list for our upcoming matches.
Hopefully the projected timeline for Szoboszlai’s return turns out to be slightly longer than actuality and that he can yet play a part in the Carabao Cup final. Even in the best-case scenario, though, it’ll be a race against the clock to make it for Wembley on 25 February.
#Ep100 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️