Arne Slot will be sweating over the fitness of five of his Liverpool stars as they prepare to host Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
With the October 2025 international break concluded, Manchester United are set to resume Premier League action with a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.
Rúben Amorim’s men currently occupy 10th place in the table, having won three of their first seven league fixtures. Despite a mixed start, there’s growing optimism ahead of the clash thanks to Liverpool’s recent dip in form under Arne Slot.
After opening the season with five straight Premier League wins, Liverpool have since fallen to three successive defeats in all competitions — against Crystal Palace, Galatasaray, and Chelsea. The losses to Palace and Chelsea came in stoppage time, while the trip to Turkey ended in a narrow 1-0 defeat.
United will be eager to build on their impressive 2-0 victory over Sunderland before the break, with Amorim hoping a positive result at Anfield can kickstart a strong run of form.
Liverpool sweating over five injuries
Liverpool’s attacking prowess is evident, with the club spending heavily on signings like Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike. But, questions have been asked regarding whether they neglected their defence too much.
New signings Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong added to their full-back stations, but they are light in the centre-back department after having failed to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace on deadline day.
As for facing United, there are now even further defensive worries. Ryan Gravenberch, who has been a stalwart as their defensive midfielder, is a doubt for the tie after coming off early against the Netherlands, with Ronald Koeman confirming that he had been struggling with a hamstring niggle.
Gravenberch himself said it was precautionary, but is certainly still one to watch out for after his “stunning” season so far.
At the same time, centre-back Ibrahima Konate left the French camp with an early confirmation of a quad issue that will be assessed. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker is a confirmed absentee and is not expected to return until late October.
Midfielder Wataru Endo was not part of Japan’s most recent set of fixtures due to an injury, with little information on a potential return timeline, while young centre-back Giovanni Leoni will be out of action for at least a year with a knee injury.
Amorim has almost a complete squad to select from
Unlike Slot, Amorim has an almost entire first-team squad to select from as United head into preparations for the fixture on Sunday afternoon.
Recent reports suggest that defender Noussair Mazraoui is likely to be fit and in contention to feature for Liverpool, leaving Lisandro Martínez and Ayden Heaven as the club’s only injury concerns.
Martínez is set to return to group training in the coming days but is not expected to return to action just yet and may do so toward the beginning of November.
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Heaven went down with an injury while with England’s U20s, but his injury is not thought to be one of too much concern or severity.
It is rare for Amorim to have had such a plethora of choices since he joined the club in November last year, as injuries have relentlessly ravaged his team over the past 12 months. He has all the tools at his disposal to try and secure points against Liverpool, and it is now up to him to pull through.
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