Liverpool are expected to be without Jeremie Frimpong until after the international break, Arne Slot confirmed.
Frimpong, who signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £30million this summer, made his Premier League debut for the Reds against Bournemouth last week.
But the Dutch international was taken off on the hour mark after he was suspected to have picked up a knock.
And further tests have confirmed that Frimpong will now miss Liverpool’s key fixtures with Newcastle and Arsenal prior to the international break.
‘The medical team was completely right about Jeremie to take him off because he’s out until the end of the international break and that happened during the game,’ Slot said.
Your ultimate guide to the football season
Metro’s weekly football newsletter: In The Mixer. Exclusive analysis, FPL tips and transfer talk sent straight to your inbox every Friday – sign up, it’s an open goal.
‘I think I got criticised a bit for taking him off, didn’t I? I’ve already said it had nothing to do with how he played but we felt he had an issue with his hamstring and by we, I mean the medical staff.
‘They were completely right. It was a good call to take him off otherwise he maybe would have been out for longer. We expect to have him back after the international break.’
Asked whether there was a concern about Frimpong’s injury record, Slot responded: ‘Jeremie has a very positive injury record. Conor has been out once or twice last season. These things happen.’
However, Frimpong’s absence does leave Slot with a problem to solve at right-back, with Conor Bradley only just back in first-team training and Joe Gomez still being managed back to full fitness after missing most of pre-season.
‘Gomez hasn’t had a setback but he wasn’t able to train three days in a row,’ Slot said of the Englishman, who came on as a late substitute against Bournemouth.
‘We will see where he is on Monday and if he can start. You can’t prepare for injuries in one position – you can’t have five right-backs. Although we do have three left-backs at the moment!’
On Bradley, the Dutchman added: ‘Conor trained for a few minutes with us today for the first time.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
