Andoni Iraola has admitted Liverpool will be without Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong "for some time" after both were forced off with hamstring injuries in Saturday's 2-1 win at Brentford.
Vice-captain Szoboszlai, who had missed Liverpool's previous two matches with the same problem, was replaced after 32 minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium. Frimpong came on at half-time but lasted just six minutes before limping off.
Both players will undergo scans to determine the extent of the damage.
Iraola explained that a tight turnaround from Wednesday'sChampions League trip to LASK in Austria had left him with difficult selection calls.
“We had a very delicate situation coming back from playing Champions League away (against LASK in Austria) on Wednesday, arriving back late at night and probably not a proper chance of recovery. So you are in doubt between (selecting) the players who have already started two games and are very tired or the players who are recovering from injuries on whom you are not 100 per cent sure.”
- Andoni Iraola, via The Athletic
The Liverpool boss confirmed Szoboszlai had suffered a recurrence rather than a fresh injury, while Frimpong's problem was new.
“Dom felt the same injury, so that injury probably isn't healed enough so we will need more time with him. Jeremie was new. He finished the game cramping the other day. I put him in because playing against 10 I thought he would give us more going forward than Ronald (Araujo).”
- Andoni Iraola.
Victor Munoz moved to right-back after Frimpong's exit, and Iraola was quick to praise him.
“After that, Victor (Munoz) was very good playing as a right-back. But it will mean we will lose Dom and Jeremie for some time.”
- Andoni Iraola.
The injuries took some of the shine off a hard-fought victory. Liverpool trailed to Keane Lewis-Potter's header before Brentford's Yehor Yarmoliuk was sent off just before the break. Munoz and Alexander Isak then scored to put the visitors in front, and the hosts finished with nine men after Vitaly Janelt was dismissed for a second yellow card.