Liverpool's hopes of winning an unprecedented quadruple have been dashed after suffering defeat to Plymouth in the FA Cup. For once this season, Arne Slot’s side had no answer after falling behind to Ryan Hardie's second half penalty at Home Park as Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and even Caoimhin Kelleher were all denied by Plymouth goalkeeper Conor Hazard. A second defeat of 2025 and fourth in total across all competitions for Liverpool and they don't have long to dwell on exiting the FA Cup at the fourth round stage.
However, Slot was dealt a concern before and during the game against Plymouth. Whilst the Reds have largely recovered most of their injured players of late, they did see Joe Gomez forced off early, which is worrying news ahead of Wednesday night’s rearranged Merseyside derby against Everton. With that in mind, here’s a look at the latest Liverpool injuries…. The defender required attention after picking up a knock in the 2-0 win over Bournemouth and eventually came off for Conor Bradley.
After the game, Slot confirmed Alexander-Arnold asked to be taken off. “The situation was that he said to me, 'You have to take me off' and he sat on the floor and we took him off,” he said. “He felt something, I can’t tell you exactly what and how bad it is of course because we are one hour after the game, but it is never a good sign if a player is asking for a substitution. “This is not a fact but I would be surprised if he plays on Thursday, but let’s hope he is back with us as soon as possible.”.
Potential return date: Unknown. Making his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in December’s 5-0 win over West Ham, Joe Gomez's afternoon lasted just 11 minutes as he was forced off against Plymouth. Slot confirmed afterwards that the defender felt some discomfort which lead to his early substitution. "I am not too sure. I am not too sure if it was the same leg, but I haven't had time to ask him. It was clear, I think we all know which moment he felt a bit insecure about [it] because he didn't sprint back fully," the Dutchman said,.
"Then he said, 'I am not 100 per cent sure and I am afraid if I make one extra sprint things will go wrong.'. "It's not torn I assume, but it didn't feel good for him.”. Slot also revealed that Curtis Jones wasn't feeling 100 percent which explains why the midfielder did not feature against Plymouth despite being named in the matchday squad. "Curtis Jones was on the bench, but he came to me this morning and said, 'I don't think I am fully recovered yet' as well after the training session of yesterday,” Slot added.
