Arne Slot confirms two Liverpool doubts for Chelsea clash and confirms starter

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been speaking ahead of his side’s Premier League clash with Chelsea on Saturday. The Reds have hit a couple of speed bumps over the last week, losing back-to-back games after what was an impressive start to the season in terms of results, although performances have rarely been convincing.

Fortunately for Slot’s men, they managed to build up a good lead at the top early in the season, and they head to Stamford Bridge still with a two-point advantage.

They know Chelsea will be a tough nut to crack, though, especially with Enzo Maresca’s men having poor form of their own to rectify, particularly in the Premier League.

And Liverpool will not be helped by the absence of starting goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who picked up an injury in the defeat to Galatasaray. Alisson seemed to pull up while running back towards his goal and after diving to retrieve a weak shot, he stayed down.

“Alisson is not a part of the squad tomorrow,” Slot told reporters. “And he’s not going to travel to Brazil as well for the national team. So, he will be out for Saturday.” Elsewhere, there are question marks over Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa. Slot added: “Hugo is going to train today again and let’s see where he is, and the same can be said for Federico. We have to wait and see after the session where exactly they are.”

Asked about how long Alisson will be out for, the Liverpool boss added: “That depends also on how fast a recovery goes. So, Saturday it’s clear, he’s not going to play for Brazil, and I would be surprised if he would be there in the first game after the international break. But from there on, sometimes things can go a bit faster or a bit slower. It’s always difficult to say the amount of days and weeks, but for the upcoming games he will not be part of us or the Brazil team.”

Mamardashvili to start

Giorgi Mamardashvili will start in goal for Liverpool in Alisson’s absence, and Slot has been impressed with how the former Valencia keeper has adapted since officially arriving in the summer, with the deal having been previously agreed.

“I think we've seen against Southampton how well he's adjusted,” Slot said. “We knew that we were bringing in a very good goalkeeper. But when he plays his first game, that's always the best way of seeing that he's adjusted well or not – and I think we've seen in that game that he's adjusted really well to our goal, which is not a surprise because he's a quality goalkeeper. Now he can do what Caoimh [Kelleher] had to do so many times in the past, replacing Alisson – hopefully in a way Caoimh did so many times before.” Kelleher joined Brentford in the summer to become a starting goalkeeper having served as Liverpool’s number two over recent years.

Your next Chelsea read, Sutton disagrees with Crouch over Chelsea vs Liverpool prediction