Arne Slot provides Alexander Isak injury update amid Liverpool crisis

Arne Slot has provided an injury update on Alexander Isak ahead of Liverpool ’s pivotal clash with Aston Villa.

The British-record signing has endured a stuttered start to life on Merseyside, with his pursuit of regaining full match sharpness hampered by a recent groin problem.

The Swede was withdrawn at half-time in Liverpool’s 5-1 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt last week - their only win in their last seven - and Slot has confirmed that the striker will not be available for the visit of Villa on Saturday.

Slot has also ruled out Curtis Jones for this weekend, who was forced off against Brentford with a minor issue, but has revealed Ryan Gravenberch is back in training and could feature.

"Ryan (Gravenberch) trained with us yesterday. The other two (Isak and Jones) didn't yet,” Slot said.

"In the end phase of the injury, things can slow down a bit or things can go faster but Ryan trained with us yesterday and he will train with us today and then we will make the call whether he is able to start.

"The other two are 99.9 percent sure not in the squad on Saturday."

Liverpool were dumped out of the Carabao Cup in midweek, succumbing to a 3-0 loss at the hands of Crystal Palace as Slot fielded an unorthodox starting XI, which included rare starts for third-choice keeper Freddie Woodman and barely-used right-back Calvin Ramsay.

With injuries to Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni putting extra pressure on defensive options, Slot’s squad depth has come under fire.

Slot, however, reiterated that he was perfectly happy with strength of his team.

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"We miss nothing,” he said. “I am completely happy with the team and with all the quality that we have and I am also completely convinced by the strategy and the policy that we have, but the issue - if you call it an issue - is not all of them have had a proper pre-season or have been injured.

"When three or four are injured you go back to 16 players. I am a firm believer that 20 or 21 player is enough but you have to keep them fit as we did last season. We are struggling a bit more to keep them fit, in my opinion, for obvious reasons.

“Alex (Isak) is a great example of this. A few others have missed out on pre-season or had injuries during pre-season. It has been more difficult than last season to keep them all available and the if a few of them are not available, it comes down a lot to the same players. Maybe last season we were more lucky and now we are more unlucky.

"But, no excuses for our results before people say this. We have had to play a lot of away games with only two days rest in between. That would have been difficult for our players last season and players that have been fit all pre-season but that has not been our situation.

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“It is nothing to do with the squad depth, it is how we've gone throughout the season in terms of injuries and availability."

Slot was also asked if he was in contract negotiations with the club, with his current deal expected to expire in 2027.

The question surprised the Reds manager and with his side on a six-game losing streak on English soil, he insisted he was only focussed on performance.

"This is the last question that I was expecting,” he said.

"My focus is completely on getting Liverpool back to winning ways. That is my first answer and my second answer, contract talks, if they are even there, we never speak about this here.

"Let us first start to win again, that is my main focus."