Hugo Ekitike injury update from Arne Slot ahead of Arsenal vs Liverpool | Football

Hugo Ekitike is yet to return to Liverpool training, casting doubt on his involvement in the trip to play Arsenal this week.

The French forward missed the trip to Craven Cottage on Sunday which saw the Reds draw 2-2 with Fulham.

In his absence Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo scored the goals for Liverpool, but they were had to settle for a point thanks to Harry Wilson’s opener and Harrison Reed’s spectacular injury time equaliser.

Arne Slot’s men now face the toughest test in the Premier League as they travel to take on Arsenal on Thursday night and may do so without Ekitike.

The Reds boss did not rule out the France international, but things did not sound good for his involvement at the Emirates.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday morning, Slot said: ‘He’s not trained with us till now. Let’s see if he can today.

‘I’ve said two or three days ago when we played Fulham that he’s not going to be out for long, but because games come so fast, he’s in between maybe training with the team or it would take him one or two days extra.’

At the weekend, Slot confirmed that Ekitike was dealing with a minor hamstring injury, saying: ‘He felt something during the training sessions, he went for an MRI scan and we got the result when we were flying.

‘So we were hoping it was just a bit of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) – I think you call it DOMS in this country – which he also had.’

The Dutchman also suggested the issue was due to Ekitike’s workload, which has been increased due to Alexander Isak’s own injury absence.

‘Alexander Isak has been out for a few weeks now, and that has meant Hugo has had to play more minutes than he did throughout the whole season,’ said Slot. ‘That has led to the fact that he picked up a slight hamstring injury because we had to play him more and more minutes.

‘For a player that is his age and is not used to the Premier League completely, that has been a bit too much. That is why he is out today and hopefully will be back for the Arsenal game, but that is not sure yet.’

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Slot is still missing Mohamed Salah as he is representing Egypt at AFCON, while Isak is not expected to return until late March.

Liverpool go to Arsenal on a nine-match unbeaten run, but coming off draws against Leeds and Fulham, having also drawn with Leeds in a dramatic 3-3 result at Elland Road last month.

‘It’s nine games unbeaten where we’ve had definitely two draws too many,’ he said. ‘I’m thinking about the Leeds away game and this game [Fulham] in terms of the moment we conceded a goal.

‘Where are we? I’ve said so many times, we’re not where we want to [be] but we have a very talented squad and if everyone is available and everyone is ready then I think we can do special things.’

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