Trent Alexander-Arnold was forced off with an injury in the first half of Liverpool’s win over Aston Villa and could be a doubt for England’s upcoming Nations League fixtures
Steve McManaman joked that Liverpool’s press officer refused to update him on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s injury after the defender was forced off against Aston Villa.
Alexander-Arnold made way for Conor Bradley with barely 20 minutes on the clock to hand his club a worry. The right-back’s involvement in England’s upcoming international double-header is also in jeopardy, with wins needed.
Speaking post-match on TNT Sports, Liverpool manager Arne Slot gave a brief update on Alexander-Arnold without giving away too much. “You saw with Trent that he had to go out, so we have to wait and see how he’s doing,” the Dutchman said.
McManaman then attempted to get an answer from elsewhere, with no luck. “I was just asking the press officer how Trent was, because of course England are playing and I wanted to see how bad it was” he told presenter Lynsey Hipgrave. “He was just about to tell me and you called me back!”
Alexander-Arnold’s injury didn’t stop Liverpool winning to move five points clear at the top. Darwin Nunez opened the scoring in the first half, rounding off a rapid break, and Mohamed Salah made sure of victory with a late goal of his own.
Slot has led his team to 28 points from a possible 33, equalling Guus Hiddink’s record for a manager in his first Premier League season. The Reds are also the only team with a perfect record in the Champions League after four gameweeks, but their manager recognised there’s a tough run of fixtures on the horizon – including a meeting with Manchester City at the start of December.
“If I look at the games that are ahead they are tough,” he said. “It will be a tough season in general. Margins are small, we have a margin but it is small. Many challenges to come for us.”
What did you make of Liverpool’s performance against Aston Villa? Let us know in the comments section
Villa had some chances of their own, with a pair of saves from Caoimhin Kelleher at the end of the first half proving crucial. Unai Emery’s side sit in eighth place after their defeat, and could end the weekend as low as 10th if Tottenham and Newcastle win on Sunday.
“Liverpool dominated sometimes but they did not have a lot of clear chances to score,” Emery told TNT Sports. “We did our work and we had the chances to score in the first half, in the second half, and we played more or less in the way I wanted.
“We have to keep improving, recover some players who have just come back after long injuries. Some players are not in the same performance level as last year but today they were a bit better.
“The league is tight, there are a lot of teams performing very well and we have to accept that we need to improve. We are under our level from last year a little bit but I am still confident.”
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