Liverpool head into the final stretch of the Premier League season but they will now have to make do without defender Conor Bradley.
Bradley has grown in importance to Jurgen Klopp in recent months and this season, he’s already racked up 10 starts in the Premier League. The youngster, however, picked up an ankle injury during the Crystal Palace game and after the match, Jurgen Klopp admitted that the injury did not look good.
“How it is on these days, something like that happens as well. Conor overstretched his foot slightly. The first moment and what Conor felt didn’t look great, [but] now I heard a little bit that it’s settled quite quickly,” he said after the game[h/t Mirror].
Now, after further scans, it has been revealed that Conor Bradley will be out for around three weeks due to the injury and this is going to be a major selection blow for the Liverpool manager.
Three weeks means Conor Bradley will be back sometime in mid-May which makes him unavailable for important matches against Atalanta, Tottenham and Aston Villa. They also face teams like Fulham, West Ham and Everton during this period but these ones should be winnable for Liverpool. Spurs and Villa, however, are chasing a top-four finish so they will throw the kitchen sink at the Anfield outfit.
Thankfully, Trent Alexander-Arnold is up and running again but the England right-back has just come back from a two-month injury lay-off so Klopp cannot afford to overwork him.
Rotation will be very important to keep all his players injury-free but with Conor Bradley out of action, Klopp will find it very hard to rest his regular right-back.
Liverpool are barely alive in the Europa League where they take on Atalanta this week and then they have another three games in the span of the next nine days.
Alexander-Arnold has managed to provide only four assists in the 19 league starts that he’s made so far and during his absence, young Conor Bradley has done a brilliant job.
Liverpool have already lost pace in the Premier League title race after that defeat to Palace at the weekend and if TAA was to pick up an injury in the coming days then Klopp might have to end his farewell campaign with just one silverware.
