Arne Slot provides Hugo Ekitike injury update and makes Liverpool promise | Football | Sport
Arne Slot has promised that Liverpool “will do everything” to get Hugo Ekitike match-ready for Monday night’s FA Cup clash with Barnsley at Anfield. The Reds manager has also suggested that Federico Chiesa could return to the starting XI for the third-round encounter.
With attacking options severely limited due to Alexander Isak’s broken leg and Mohamed Salah‘s commitments at the Africa Cup of Nations, Slot is keen to have Ekitike available after the striker missed recent stalemates against Fulham and Arsenal. He confirmed that Jayden Danns and Wataru Endo will remain unavailable for the fixture, but expressed optimism about his top scorer’s chances of featuring following a brief spell out.
“Hugo, we are not 100 per cent sure but we will do everything to have him available on Monday,” revealed Slot.
“I think if I am correct Wata (Endo) might start to train one of these days but he has been out for two months now, that is of course different from being out for one week.
“Alex is not going to be back yet and Mo plays tomorrow.”
On Danns, Slot added: “Danns is not fit enough, he is not even training. He is one of the players that got a stress fracture because he was young and was a bit over-trained.
“That is why we are so careful with Rio Ngumoha – that he is two days a week off the pitch if that is possible, (and we) do not have that same situation with him, but Jayden is definitely not available in the short term.”
Regarding Chiesa, Slot commented: “I spoke to him two days ago and he said he played more in the recent weeks than he ever did before under me but he is one of the players that could feature in that game, definitely.
“But like I said Hugo might be back so let’s see how we might start that game and he is one of the options that I have so let’s see.”
The Reds will now be without a second defender for the remainder of the campaign, joining Giovanni Leoni on the sidelines, after confirming that right-back Conor Bradley suffered a “significant knee injury” during Thursday’s goalless stalemate at Arsenal.
