Liverpool vs Villarreal early injury news as 6 ruled out and 1 doubt
Liverpool are back in Champions League action on Tuesday night, when they face Villarreal at Anfield. The Reds picked up a big win over the weekend, defeating Brentford, but they face a stiffer test here, and still with plenty of injuries.
The Reds have won both of their Champions League games so far, while Villarreal have won one of two, losing to Borussia Dortmund but then beating Napoli. The Yellow Submarine drew with Elche over the weekend and missed enough chances to win three games, but that has been the story of their season so far, getting off to a tricky start after swapping managers over the summer.
Here we round up the latets injury news surrounding both teams ahead of this one.
Tajon Buchanan - Out
Buchanan is going to be out until early November with a hamstring issue.
Nicolas Pépé - Doubt
Pépé missed the weekend with a strange eye injury. He could well be back here.
Dominik Szoboszlai - Out
Szobszlai came back against Brentford but went off due to realising the hamstring issue hadn't healed. Iraola said after the game: "He has tried, he has trained the last days, but we didn't know the minutes he'd have. It's not another injury, he's still not healed."
Jeremie Frimpong - Out
Frimpong picked up a fresh issue in the Brentford game. Iraola confirmed: "He finished cramping the other day in the UCL, so we knew he wouldn't start the game. We were playing against 10, and I thought he was going to give us more going forward, but he felt straight away something in the muscle."
Conor Bradley - Out
Bradley is still working his way back from a long-term knee issue. Iraola said last week: "They are both doing very well. I think they are in a good place. Conor is not so far from training with the group - not full training but doing some things. It’s difficult [to give a timescale] when they've been injured for so long, but I think Conor is not very far from starting doing things with us."
Giovanni Leoni - Out
The same applies for Leoni, with Iraola saying last week: "It’s taking more time than we wanted. The plan was to train with the team in this past international break [but] probably it’s going to be in the next [one], so we’ve lost one month in the process. He has to be very confident; the rehab process has to be very careful with him, and we want to make sure once he comes to the team, he stays in a good place."
Hugo Ekitiké - Out
Ekitiké is rehabbing a heel issue. Iraola said last week: "They are both doing very well. I think they are in a good place. Hugo is a little bit behind [Bradley], but that was always the plan. He is still doing very well... It’s difficult [to give a timescale] when they've been injured for so long."
