Liverpool defender Joe Gomez could make his return to action on Monday as the Reds travel to Brighton in the Premier League. Gomez has not played for the Reds since February’s 1-0 defeat by Plymouth in the FA Cup, a game in which he came off early after sustaining a serious hamstring problem.
Gomez underwent surgery on the issue and has been rehabilitating in the three months since. Gomez made his return to training on June 9, but the game against Arsenal on June 11 came too soon for him to figure in.
Gomez traveled to Dubai with the rest of Liverpool‘s players last week, which was arranged in order for the group to celebrate the club’s title win, and he took part in training once more on Friday.
Arne Slot and Liverpool’s players took four days off between Monday and Thursday, with training resuming on Friday and also scheduled to take place on Saturday and Sunday, ahead of Monday’s game on the South Coast.
Gomez’s prospective return would give Slot the luxury of having a fully fit squad to choose from, which is not a particularly common occurrence for soccer managers.
Indeed, Slot has not had a full roster to choose from in the Premier League since the opening weekend of the season, when the Reds traveled to Ipswich Town.
Curtis Jones missed the following two games through injury, before Harvey Elliott was sidelined for two months with a fractured foot. Alisson, Ibrahima Konate, Kostas Tsimikas, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Bradley, Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa all missed games due to injury at the back end of 2024.
Bradley and Konate were the last players from that group to make their returns from injury, and when they did, Gomez had already suffered the injury against Plymouth that has kept him sidelined ever since.
(Image: 2025 Liverpool FC)
Meanwhile, Liverpool head coach Slot was asked in a press conference on Friday if it was difficult to motivate his players for the final weeks of the season, considering the team effectively has nothing to play for.
“The honest answer is yes, it’s clear to everyone,” Slot said. “If we were still competing for the Premier League, there would have been a few days off as well, but we would have gone somewhere else.
“I don’t think we’re the only team that gives players a few extra days off when you play on Sunday and then don’t play again until the following Monday. The honest answer is there is a difference [in motivation] but if I look at the way we played against Arsenal, I saw a team that wanted to compete against Arsenal from the first second until the last.
“Even when we were having some problems in the second half, we were able to come back into the game so it shows you the mentality is very good
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve won the league — if you play Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton, these are difficult games to play. That’s why I was also so happy that we were already enough points clear to clinch the title against Tottenham.”
