Liverpool Handed Another Injury Boost as Arne Slot Drops Everton Line-up Hint

Arne Slot has confirmed that he will make significant changes to the team for the match against Everton, while one Liverpool player has been declared fit after recovering from injury.

Curtis Jones is available for selection in the Merseyside derby against Everton on Wednesday night. The Liverpool midfielder was an unused substitute in the Reds’ unexpected FA Cup defeat to Plymouth Argyle, having only recently returned from an MCL injury.

Slot revealed that he had originally planned to start Jones against Plymouth, but the England international withdrew from the starting lineup on the morning of the match.

Jones had already made an impact as a substitute in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory at AFC Bournemouth earlier this month, marking his return from injury. He then completed 72 minutes in the Reds’ emphatic 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur last week.

Despite not featuring against Plymouth, Slot has dismissed any concerns over the 24-year-old’s fitness. Jones had previously missed fixtures against Ipswich Town and PSV Eindhoven after being forced off at half-time during Liverpool’s match against Lille last month.

“Yeah, (he will be available on Wednesday),” Slot confirmed. “He was out for 10, 12 days and he played a game at home against Tottenham. His recovery took a bit longer than expected.”

Slot altered his lineup significantly against Plymouth, retaining only Caoimhin Kelleher from the midweek win over Tottenham. With Trent Alexander-Arnold sidelined due to injury, the Reds’ head coach opted to leave 11 senior players out of the squad.

The Dutchman has confirmed he will once again make sweeping changes for the clash with Everton, while also standing by the players who featured in the defeat to Plymouth.

“I don’t read that much in England,” he said when asked about the fallout after losing to the Championship strugglers. “I saw some remarks in the Dutch media because I follow all the news, whatever happens over there.

“They called it a…they had some strong words so I assume the English media said similar things. I can only agree with that. I had the same emotions. It was a very, very disappointing result.

“Maybe not the emotion because the players that were on the pitch will be – maybe one or two of them – but the rest will not start. I don’t think the ones who stayed behind have the same emotions of the ones that lost.

“Although of course the ones that stayed behind were very disappointed as well because we are here to compete for every trophy. Now one of them is gone so everybody was disappointed.

“Every time that these players that played the game against Plymouth came in, they’ve done really well but it is not the first time we had a disappointing result when they all played together because PSV Eindhoven was the same.

“There is a big difference coming into a team that has a certain structure and has played so many times together and then one or two players coming in can have a big impact.

“It’s clear if you change so many players that there is not as much structure and cohesion as the ones that played together.

“But still, I assumed and that’s the wrong interpretation that I made, that these players were – without having the same cohesion – good enough to win from Plymouth.

“My idea was to start with Curtis Jones and have Joe Gomez longer available and all of a sudden they weren’t and Darwin was not able to play more than half an hour.

“We dropped a bit maybe too much in quality compared to what we could have brought on the pitch. It still should have been more than enough to win against Plymouth but it wasn’t.”

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