Liverpool could hardly have wished for a better start to the 2024/25 season, with new manager Arne Slot making a near-faultless start to his tenure.
The Reds sit top of the Premier League, top of the Champions League, are through to the League Cup quarter-finals and have lost just once across all competitions – but with matches against Real Madrid, Manchester City and Everton fast approaching, the Dutch head coach won’t be taking anything for granted.
Of particular interest to Slot will be the likely return dates for a clutch of injured players, including first-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker and vice captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, who sat out the international break with a hamstring injury sustained during the win over Aston Villa. Here’s all the latest news and updates over the possible return dates for Liverpool’s sidelined players.
The defender is being assessed after returning home from international duty after the Netherlands’ win over Hungary, and national team boss Ronald Koeman has confirmed an injury “complaint” had been limiting Van Dijk.
“Virgil had some minor complaints, he already had that last week,” Koeman explained. “He trained separately last week until Wednesday.
“Also considering the schedule that these types of players have to complete – he always plays everything. That is why we decided to send him back to the club.”
Slot was more affirmative in his captain being ready to face his former side: “Virgil is all good, he’s with us today.”
Potential return: Southampton, 24 November
Trent Alexander-Arnold
A hamstring issue is not one to take lightly and the No66 departing the pitch after just 25 minutes against Villa suggests it was a fairly significant injury – but a prompt substitution seemingly helped limit any damage and the club were optimistic that it was not as bad as first feared, with just a couple of weeks out their hope.
He won’t be playing against Southampton though and is “50-50” to play in midweek, Arne Slot said. “Trent isn’t training withus yet but he’s getting there and we expect him back soon.”
Potential return: Real Madrid, 27 November
Federico Chiesa
The Reds face Southampton away at the weekend and one player who might be fit to rejoin the squad is Federico Chiesa. After a slight muscle injury around the October international break he has been held back and Slot said at the start of the month he would hopefully “do things during the international break and rejoin us afterwards” – but revealed in his pre-Southampton press conference that he remained apart from the main group, almost ready to rejoin.
Potential return: Man City, 1 December
Alisson Becker
The club have been extremely cagey on Alisson’s progress after a much more serious hamstring injury sustained at Crystal Palace, and despite the Brazilian posting on social media to show his rehab remains ongoing, there’s no real word over when he might return. Caoimhin Kelleher has been an excellent stand-in but Slot has reiterated Alisson is the No.1 when fit – whenever that might be the case. It definitely won’t be before Real Madrid.
“He’s back in training with the goalkeeper coach, he’s not training with the team yet but that’s expected to be done soon,” he said on Friday before Southampton. “Then let’s wait and see where he is in terms of match fitness.”
Potential return: Early December 2024
Prior to the international break, Slot revealed it would be “one or two weeks” afterwards that Diogo Jota returned, following a heavy collision against Chelsea in late October. The fixtures come rapidly from this point onwards so he could therefore be ready to feature against any of Manchester City, Newcastle, Everton or Girona, who the Reds play against across the course of just ten days.
He remains training apart from the group.
Potential return: Early- to mid-December
Harvey Elliott
As with Jota, there’s no constant update over the midfielder, with Elliott missing in action since the first weeks of the Premier League after breaking a bone in his foot. Elliott is back on the grass and running and training outside, but it’s still likely to be a while longer before he can be fully involved.
“He’s been training with us again, that’s a positive. He’s on the training ground with the team,” Slot said before the Southampton game.
Potential return: December 2024