Three Liverpool players miss training ahead of Crystal Palace clash - including reliable 59-goal star

Three Liverpool players have missed an open training session as the Reds prepare for fixtures against Bologna FC and Crystal Palace this week. The Merseyside club had an open training session on Tuesday ahead of their midweek Champions League clash which comes a few days before they visit Selhurst Park in the Premier League.

The Eagles welcome Liverpool to South London at 12.30pm on Saturday but the visitors could be missing a handful of players after some fresh injury scares emerged. Harvey Elliot is a long-term absentee and missed training as expected but forward pair Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa were both not involved in the club’s latest training session. Chiesa joined Liverpool for £12m from Juventus during the summer and started his first game last week in a 5-1 Carabao Cup victory over West Ham at Anfield. He assisted Jota for the home side’s equaliser, with the Portugal international adding another goal to his personal tally in the second half of the game.

Jota, who has scored 59 goals during his Liverpool career so far, played a key role for the Reds last weekend as they beat Wolves 2-1. He provided the assist for Ibrahima Konaté’s opener and won the penalty which was scored by Mohamed Salah as Liverpool squeaked past Gary O’Neil’s side. Providing an update on the pair, Liverpool boss Arne Slot said he was hopeful that Jota would be available for the two games this week but confirmed Chiesa will at least miss the clash with Bologna, putting his involvement against Palace in doubt.

Speaking to the Liverpool Football Club website, Slot said: “Federico trained with us yesterday and came in today with some problems, and I’m not expecting him to be in the team tomorrow. Which is a pity for us but of course for him even more. He was looking forward to a Champions League night at Anfield and especially because we’re facing an Italian team. It’s a pity for him but he will be there [in the future], many more nights to come for him.”

On a timeframe for the player’s return, Slot added: “That’s always difficult because it happened yesterday but I’m not expecting him to be out for a very long period of time. But this game is not possible for him and we have to wait and see if he can manage to be in the team on Saturday. And afterwards it’s the international break.”

Slot continued: “Diogo missed out on two sessions after the game against Wolves. He took a knock. I’m expecting him to be with us tomorrow, that he’s available to play.”