Liverpool have suffered another blow as midfield maestro Wataru Endo sustained an injury following the Carabao Cup Final win over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
The Reds will quickly return to action after collecting their first trophy of the season at the weekend and will look to continue their pursuit for another as the FA Cup fifth-round clash against Southampton will be hosted at Anfield tomorrow evening.
Jurgen Klopp will surely be feeling mixed emotions as he focuses on the challenges ahead with a Premier League title, Europa League trophy and FA Cup trophy all in reach; however, the mounting injury problems on the red side of Merseyside are becoming worrying.
The business end of the German coach’s final season is upon us, but unfortunately, he won’t be able to deploy several of his star players for the foreseeable future as the likes of Alisson Becker, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ryan Gravenberch, and Dominik Szoboszlai are currently in recovery from various injury issues.
Not only that, summer signing Wataru Endo is looking likely to spend some time on the sidelines with his teammates as he picked up a knock against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup clash at the weekend.
Klopp delivered his FA Cup pre-match press conference this afternoon and gave an insight into the numerous injury issues plaguing his selection opportunities for the meeting with Saints tomorrow.
The Liverpool boss hinted that Endo’s situation had not improved since Sunday:
“Wataru got a proper knock as well. There we have to see as well. I wouldn’t say it’s much improved since Sunday but that’s how it is.”
When will Wataru Endo return?
There is no doubt that Endo will be a massive loss to the team should he not be able to participate over the coming weeks, as he has been a consistent and quality addition in the midfield three.
After losing Fabinho in the summer, there were big shoes to fill in the defensive midfield role and despite having a slow start, the Japanese star has grown into his responsibility in front of the back four and proven the doubters wrong.
Over 18 Premier League appearances, the 31-year-old titan has tallied up an 87% pass completion rate and successfully completed 50% of his dribbles, as well as averaging 1.3 tackles, 3.4 ball recoveries and 3.7 duels won per game, as per SofaScore.
As a result, it really would be a big blow for the team if Endo is set for a lengthy spell on the injury table, though Klopp’s analysis leaves room for hope that it won’t be a serious problem.
There is a chance that the midfielder could be back in action either against Nottingham Forest at the weekend or against Sparta Prague in the Europa League, either way as long as the brick-wall dynamo is back in action when Liverpool face Manchester City next month, fans can stay calm.
