After picking up a midweek win against Southampton to progress to the EFL Cup semi-finals, Liverpool will travel to the English capital this weekend for a critical clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
The Reds’ injury report has improved with recent returns from Alisson Becker, Diogo Jota, Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa, but Liverpool will still be without two of their top defenders for Sunday’s match.
Center-back Ibrahima Konaté and right-back Conor Bradley, both hurt during Liverpool’s victory over Real Madrid, will be unavailable for the meeting with the Cockerels. Unfortunately, their injuries appear to be more serious than initially expected.
That Madrid game was nearly a month ago at this point, and Liverpool boss Arne Slot recently shared that neither of his back-liners are even fit enough to participate in team training at the moment.
“These are the two that are still ‘in the red’, so they don’t train with us at the moment. They are on their way back but they don’t train with the team yet,” he said.
This could be a cause for concern, as Liverpool's defense has conceded five goals in their last two Premier League games against Newcastle and Fulham—teams that lack the attacking potency Tottenham possess.
Coincidentally, Liverpool will face Tottenham in their upcoming Carabao Cup semi-final, following Tottenham’s strong offensive display in their own quarter-final win over Manchester United.
United have a very solid defense, as they are tied with three other clubs for conceding the third-fewest goals in the Premier League this season. Red Devils goalkeeper André Onana in particular has seen an improvement in form compared to last season, recording six clean sheets in the league thus far.
However, Tottenham picked apart this under-the-radar defensive core with a thrilling 4-3 victory on Thursday, powered by a brace from former Red, Dominic Solanke.
Spurs will look to build on their run of positive forward play as they currently rank second in the Premier League in goals scored with 36, only one behind leaders Chelsea.
This level of goal-scoring ability from Tottenham will challenge a Liverpool defense that will miss Konaté and Bradley, especially as Andrew Robertson has been having an overall poor season thus far.
While the task of marking Son Heung-min will fall to Trent Alexander-Arnold–whose defensive skills have improved significantly under Arne Slot–Robertson will still have his hands full as he takes on Brennan Johnson.
The 23 year-old has earned a solidified position amongst the Tottenham starting XI this season, making 13 starts in 16 of his Premier League appearances, bagging six goals and providing an assist to boot.
Johnson also possesses absolutely blinding pace, giving Robertson one more reason to be cautious in his assignment.
The defensive capabilities of the team without Bradley and Konaté also place center-backs Joe Gomez and Jarrell Quansah under a microscope, and whoever gets the nod to start alongside Virgil van Dijk will need to be on their A-game to help pick up the three points.
Both CBs played solidly at St. Mary’s during the week, but must be razor sharp against a Tottenham side that is much more talented than Southampton.
If Quansah were to have a good outing against Tottenham, it could do leaps and bounds for his confidence as a younger member of the squad, but the overall experience Joe Gomez brings to the team may make for a safer decision in such a crucial match.
Both of their contests against Tottenham last season were enthralling encounters, both in the massively controversial loss away at Hotspur Stadium and in the goal-fest reverse fixture at Anfield. Fireworks usually spark when these teams meet, and this time out should be no different.
Missing two players of such quality will hurt, but Tottenham are quite beat up themselves, leaving no excuses for Liverpool to not pick up a crucial three points on Sunday.