Trent Alexander-Arnold will miss the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea this month after aggravating a knee injury during Liverpool’s win over Burnley.
The Liverpool vice-captain was forced off after 45 minutes on Saturday having felt pain in the same knee where he sustained a lateral ligament tear in the FA Cup victory against Arsenal on 7 January. No timeframe has been set for the defender’s return but he is expected to be sidelined for several weeks, ruling him out of the Wembley final against Mauricio Pochettino’s side on 25 February.
Burnley was Alexander-Arnold’s second start since sustaining the initial injury. He made a comeback in the FA Cup fourth-round win against Norwich and started the Premier League defeat at Arsenal but was withdrawn after 58 minutes as a precautionary measure. The injury was aggravated against Burnley, Jürgen Klopp explained, when the defender caught his studs in the pitch.
In Alexander‑Arnold’s absence Conor Bradley shone but he has not played since scoring his first Liverpool goal in the 4-1 rout of Chelsea at Anfield on 31 January. The Northern Ireland international has been on compassionate leave following the death of his father but returned to training this week. Mohamed Salah, who has been out since sustaining a hamstring problem at the Africa Cup of Nations, also resumed training this week.
Klopp has already cast doubt on Dominik Szoboszlai’s availability for the Carabao Cup final. The influential midfielder had a recurrence of a muscle injury in the league win against Chelsea. Thiago Alcântara is also out of action after sustaining a muscle injury during his brief comeback at Arsenal.
Meanwhile the Wolves forward Matheus Cunha sustained a “fairly significant” hamstring injury during the defeat by Brentford on Saturday.
Gary O’Neil, the manager, said: “There’s no timeline on it. I’ve spoken to Matheus a lot and he just wants to keep pushing to get back as soon as he can.
“He’s started working on it already, so we’re just going to monitor it week by week, day by day, see how far he can come and how quickly we can get him back.”
Cunha, who scored a hat-trick against Chelsea this month, fell and was taken off 19 minutes into the Brentford game. “It’s obviously a big blow to us, to the team and Matheus because of the work he’s been doing – the form he was in was exceptional,” O’Neil said.
