Both Liverpool and Newcastle will be without four players for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley, but it is the Magpies who are missing more key men.
The two sides are set to meet for the third time this season, after last December’s thrilling 3-3 Premier League draw at St. James’ Park was followed by a routine 2-0 win for the Reds at Anfield in February.
In terms of team news, Trent Alexander-Arnold will miss the game with the ankle problem he sustained in Tuesday’s Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain. The right-back is hopeful of playing again this season but will be out of action for several weeks.
Ibrahima Konate also came off against PSG but that was seemingly due to fatigue, and he was scheduled to train as usual on Friday.
“Trent is not available. He will not be there at the final,” Arne Slot said in his pre-match press conference. “He is still to be assessed for how long it will take but we do expect him back before the end of the season. On Ibou Konate, we didn’t train yesterday, we had a day off, and the day before that was recovery. I expect him to train with us today but let’s see how he is.”
The Reds remain without Joe Gomez, Conor Bradley and Tyler Morton. Gomez and Bradley are both out with hamstring injuries, while Morton has a shoulder problem.
Meanwhile, Anthony Gordon is suspended for Newcastle after earning a mindless red card in a recent FA Cup game against Brighton, while Sven Botman and Lewis Hall are out with season-ending knee and foot injuries respectively. All three players would be regular starters in Eddie Howe’s first-choice team when available.
Club captain Jamaal Lascelles has not played this season due to a long-term injury and remains unavailable. “We’ve got the long-term issues,” said Howe in his pre-match press conference. “Lewis Hall is recovering after his operation now, Sven is recovering after his operation and Jamaal is still making progress to come back. Anthony is suspended, but apart from that, we hope to have a full squad.”
On his team selection for the match, he added: “Everyone will find out at the same time when I name the team. When that will be, I’ll leave that to myself. I think the team selection for these types of games will always be difficult because there’ll always be players who will be disappointed. Naturally, everyone wants to play in the bigger games, but I can only pick 11.”
