Arne Slot has enough headaches at the moment without injuries adding to his troubles.
Liverpool are in wretched form at the moment after losing six of their past seven games in all competitions, with Wednesday night's 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup just the latest difficult night for the Reds.
Is Alexander Isak fit to play against Aston Villa on Saturday?
Isak has been struggling with a groin injury that forced him off at half time during Liverpool's 5-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League last week.
That injury kept Liverpool's record signing out of last weekend's defeat at Brentford and the cup loss at home to Palace in midweek. Slot is not confident that Isak will be able to return to action against Villa on Saturday evening, either.
Isak is one of several doubts for the reigning Premier League champions this weekend, alongside midfielders Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones.
Asked for an update on the trio at his Friday morning press conference, Slot said: "Ryan trained with us yesterday. The other two didn't yet.
"In the end phase of the injury, things can slow down a bit or things can go faster. But Ryan trained with us yesterday and he will train with us today, and then we will make the call whether he is able to start.
"The other two [Isak and Jones] are 99.9% sure not in the squad on Saturday."
Hugo Ekitike's start to life at Liverpool has allowed Slot to take a cautious approach to introducing Isak to the side after he was kept out of training with the rest of the Newcastle squad in pre-season having signalled his desire to leave the club.
Slot took the further precaution of naming a much-rotated side against Palace, only to come under fire when his second-string side suffered a comprehensive defeat.
The Liverpool boss defended that decision, however, saying: "We have more than enough good players available to play the three games this week.
"But I have to take care of a few of them and that is why I made the decision vs Crystal Palace."
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