Liverpool’s Gomez out for weeks with muscle injury, Slot confirms

Premier League leaders Liverpool have suffered a fresh injury setback ahead of Wednesday’s match against Aston Villa, as defender Joe Gomez is out for weeks due to a muscle problem, coach Arne Slot confirmed Tuesday.

England’s Gomez missed the start of the calendar year with a previous muscle injury, and his return in this month’s 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Plymouth Argyle lasted just 11 minutes, with the 27-year-old leaving after suffering a new setback.

“Joe will be out quite a while. He’s expected to be out for multiple weeks because of a muscle concern,” Slot told journalists.

Slot stated Gomez, a Liverpool player since 2015, might need surgery and would be out for a large portion of the remaining campaign.

“We expect him out until the final stretch of the season,” the manager added.

“He worked hard to get out there again. First match when he was out, after a couple or few minutes, we noticed him making a sprint, and now he’s out for weeks again. That’s always tough for a player.”

Striker Cody Gakpo, who was out of Sunday’s 2-1 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers with a knock, was nearing full fitness but remained out for Wednesday, Slot noted.

The Dutchman said Premier League leaders Liverpool, who are seven points out in front of second-placed Arsenal, would face a tricky test at Villa, despite the ninth-placed side being out of wins in their past four league fixtures.

“They made it out of the top eight in the Champions League, so that shows it’s a strong squad we’re out to play,” he commented.

“Once again, a tough match for us, for everybody. They have a strong home record… that is going to be a challenge, but we have a solid away record as well this campaign.”