Liverpool manager Arne Slot says the club are battling a number of injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s visit from Chelsea.

The Reds sit top of the Premier League table after winning six of their first seven games, with the surprise home defeat to Nottingham Forest the only blemish on the Dutchman’s record.

One of the key factors in Liverpool’s early success under Slot has been their stoic defensive performances. They have shipped just two goals so far this season, four less than any other team in the Premier League.

However, their hopes of maintaining that fine defensive record suffered a huge blow prior to the October international break. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker picked up a hamstring injury in the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace which will likely sideline him until after the next set of international fixtures.

Slot is confident though that his deputy, Caiomhin Kelleher, will provide the stability required between the sticks, pointing to his past performances when covering for the Brazilian.

“Alisson is for sure not with us in upcoming weeks, that’s a blow for him and us, he did really well for this club for so many years,” Slot told reporters. “Caoimhin [Kelleher] did well for us previous years and this year, so we have a good replacement.

“It’s uncommon for goalkeepers. At Feyenoord I had the same with my goalkeeper, getting muscles injuries. We are looking into it and what the reasons are. If you get one the chances of another go up so we have tried to be careful.

“But also it’s a good chance to explain again, there were some things about me not disliking 12:30 kick-offs but if you play Wednesday evening, it might be disadvantage to play 12:30pm after CL game – the chances for injury go up.

“We need to take this into consideration. You cannot change all 11 players but in retrospect I might have chose Caoimhin over Alisson. In Holland, I am 99.9% sure the Champions League teams get extra rest to prepare. That is not common here in England.”

Slot also revealed uncertainty around the fitness of three outfield players, including World Cup-winning midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, who has started the season in fine form.

“We’ve got quite some issues and we can only judge that from today as it’s the first day they are all in. Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] missed one game, played the second,” Slot remarked. Kostas [Tsimikas] missed England…I can name them all and we have a few issues, so we will see. [Wataru] Endo was sick, we will see.”

Chelsea, meanwhile, have a close to clean bill of health ahead of the trip to Anfield, with Enzo Maresca confirming in his own press conference that captain Reece James, not seen so far this season, is available again after overcoming a hamstring injury.

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