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Liverpool have been dealt a major injury blow with the news that Joel Matip could be out for up to 6 weeks due to the knee injury he’s been nursing.
The 28-year-old will miss as many as 10 games, including high profile fixtures against Manchester City and Everton plus all three remaining Champions League group stage games, if that turns out to be the case.
Liverpool are not wanting to put a definitive time frame on when they expect Matip to return but they have confirmed ‘off-the-record’ that the defender is not ready to return to training and that he’s still reporting discomfort in his knee.
The Cameroon international has featured in just one of Liverpool’s last 5 games which was against Manchester United on 20th October. Dejan Lovren has been providing cover alongside Virgil van Dijk and is likely to continue doing so, although the boss also has Joe Gomez to call upon now that he’s fit and available for selection. Gomez (22) is rumoured to be frustrated at the lack of first team opportunities at Anfield so he will see this as an opportunity to push for some game time.
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Speaking after the 2-1 win over Spurs, Reds’ boss Jürgen Klopp said: “Joe [Gomez] is completely back. He knows that, it’s just how it is sometimes [that he had to miss out].
“He was not in his 100 per cent best shape. Now he’s back. It’s good to know because Joel is still out and we will and have to change at that position.
“Joe is completely in contention for the last game, Joe is in really good shape now, thank God, good timing!”
Matip injured his knee against Sheffield United on 28th September. He then suffered a recurrence at Old Trafford several weeks later. His absence will certainly be a blow to the Reds.