Alexander Isak’s injury should give Hugo Ekitike chance to further establish himself as Arne Slot’s favoured Liverpool striker.
Liverpool have an obvious replacement for Alexander Isak after the extent of his injury was confirmed on Monday evening. The Sweden international was on the end of a firm Micky van de Ven block tackle when scoring in Liverpool’s win over Tottenham on Saturday evening, which forced him off after just 11 minutes on the pitch.
Isak immediately clutched at his lower leg and he hobbled off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It looked to be a serious injury with Liverpool confirming that unfortunate outcome in a club statement.
Their injury update read: “Alexander Isak today successfully underwent surgery on the injury he sustained on Saturday.
READ MORE: Alexander Isak Liverpool injury timeline confirmed as Conor Bradley and Cody Gakpo updates given
“The Liverpool striker was injured in a challenge in the process of scoring the opening goal against Tottenham Hotspur and had to be substituted.
“After diagnosis, an operation was completed today on an ankle injury that included a fibula fracture. Isak’s rehabilitation will now continue at the AXA Training Centre, with no timeframe yet placed on his return.”
Following Isak’s opener, Hugo Ekitike doubled the visitors’ advantage with a perfectly placed header. That was his fifth goal from three Premier League games, with it abundantly clear he’s capable of taking on the mantle of being Liverpool’s striker.
It certainly seems as though Slot is pleased by his performances, but still wants to see more from the Frenchman.
The Liverpool boss said: “He still needs to get stronger, but he’s already become stronger. He can score a goal, he has great footwork, dribbling skills, he has so much in his locker.
“He’s adjusted to the Premier League now, the biggest thing is how he can become physically outstanding, that’s what he’s working on really hard.
“In the last two, three, four minutes he was very, very, very tired at Tottenham. I see this often. But there’s hardly any rest for these players, I have to give them a lot of compliments. Every time they fight, fight and fight from first second to the last.”
With Isak out for the next few months, Slot’s final comments could be a concern given Liverpool have four games in 12 days, starting with a clash against Wolves.
Slot has several other injury problems to contend with after Florian Wirtz and Conor Bradley both departed the Spurs clash due to potential issues. That’s in addition to Cody Gakpo, Wataru Endo and Joe Gomez currently being unavailable.
On injuries, Slot said: “Conor will be 50/50. He’s not training with us today or tomorrow. Friday we will see exactly where he is if he can be in squad. Joe won’t be available, Wata won’t be, Cody is a bit similar to Conor.”
“Florian is okay. Just had cramp at Tottenham. In an ideal world, I could have rested him more. But he’s okay.”
