Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool got lucky with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s ankle injury as the right-back may only be out for two weeks.
Liverpool had feared they would be without the England international for longer after he was hurt in a challenge with Gabriel Martinelli in Arsenal’s 3-2 win on Sunday.
But, while Liverpool are also without Luis Diaz until Boxing Day and Joel Matip for a couple of weeks, Klopp at least had some good news in the full-back positions with Alexander-Arnold potentially returning in time for their trip to Ajax and Andy Robertson, who has missed their last four games, in contention to make a comeback against Rangers on Wednesday.
“I thought we were maybe hopefully a little lucky with Trent as his ankle didn't look good, to be honest,” Klopp said. “It is always difficult to say [how long he will be out]. Shorter than a month. Two weeks I've heard but I will have to see if that is right. I thought it is longer when I see him after the game. I take the two weeks, easily. It's good Robbo is back but he's only trained for a couple of days."
Diaz, who has been perhaps Liverpool’s best player this season, will not play again until after the World Cup because of a knee problem he sustained on Sunday, but Klopp was relatively optimistic.
He added: “Lucho, what is it, six to eight [weeks] or whatever? We will see how long. He looks like a quick healer. It could have been worse. It’s not great but it's the situation, and we have to deal with it."
Before he went off, Diaz set up Darwin Nunez’s first goal since August and the summer signing could be more important without his fellow South American.
Klopp took encouragement from both Nunez’s efforts at Arsenal and his display in last week’s 2-0 win over Rangers.
“It's important for him to be confident [after scoring],” he said. “He had a lot of good moments against Rangers. In moments, he was unplayable but [there were] big goalie saves. His performance was a positive, for sure.”
Liverpool are without midfielders Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones and Arthur Melo for their first game at Ibrox, but Jordan Henderson is set to play.
The FA are investigating an incident from Saturday’s game with Arsenal when the Liverpool captain exchanged words with Gabriel Magalhaes, but Klopp said: "Will he be in the right frame of mind? Yes.”
