Joe Gomez was forced off against Plymouth out of fear of sustaining a serious injury, Arne Slot has confirmed.
The centre-back started alongside Jarell Quansah for Liverpool in their FA Cup fourth round tie against Plymouth, but went down off the ball after just 11 minutes and was replaced by youngster Isaac Mabaya.
That raised fears of another injury blow for Gomez, who was making his first appearance of 2025 having been sidelined since late December with a hamstring issue sustained in the win over West Ham.
Speaking at his post-match press conference after Liverpool fell to a shock 1-0 defeat at Home Park, Slot revealed he hadn’t yet spoken to Gomez but but believes the defender hasn’t torn anything.
"I am not too sure. I am not too sure if it was the same leg, but I haven't had time to ask him. It was clear, I think we all know which moment he felt a bit insecure about [it] because he didn't sprint back fully.
"Then he said, 'I am not 100 per cent sure and I am afraid if I make one extra sprint things will go wrong.'
"It's not torn I assume, but it didn't feel good for him.”
In addition to losing Gomez early on, Slot revealed Curtis Jones wasn’t fully fit despite being named among the substitutes.
“That was a bit of a blow because Curtis Jones was on the bench, but he came to me this morning and said, 'I don't think I am fully recovered yet' as well after the training session of yesterday,” the Dutchman added.
"That all of a sudden led to the fact we were with a few more youngsters on the pitch than was the idea before the game, but still there was enough quality on the pitch to get a better result than this."
