Three Liverpool players may miss the Manchester United match, with four others facing potential disciplinary action

Liverpool may face a depleted squad against Manchester United due to potential suspensions

Liverpool may face a depleted squad against Manchester United, with the possibility of further suspensions looming.

Following their dominant 5-0 victory over West Ham United on Sunday, Liverpool managed to avoid any player suspensions. Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, and Darwin Nunez had entered the match just one yellow card away from a one-match ban. Had they been booked, they would have missed Liverpool’s upcoming home match against Manchester United. However, the Reds navigated the game without picking up any additional yellow cards.

Manager Slot substituted both Gravenberch and Gakpo after 58 minutes, with Liverpool already leading 4-0, ensuring they did not risk accumulating a fifth yellow card. Nunez, meanwhile, remained an unused substitute.

Thanks to this cautious approach, Gravenberch, Gakpo, and Nunez, along with Dominik Szoboszlai (who was serving a one-match ban for his own yellow card accumulation), will be available for the Manchester United match. However, they remain at risk of further suspensions in the second half of the season.

Players who receive five yellow cards in the first 19 Premier League games are automatically banned for one match. If a player reaches 10 yellow cards in the first 32 games, they face a two-match suspension, and a total of 15 yellow cards in the season leads to a three-match ban.

While most Premier League teams will have completed their 19th game by the end of the current matchweek, Liverpool still has one more fixture due to the postponed Merseyside derby against Everton. This means the Reds will have to be cautious in their upcoming match to avoid suspensions.

If Gravenberch, Gakpo, or Nunez are booked against Manchester United, they will receive a one-match suspension. Ibrahima Konate is also at risk, having received four yellow cards before suffering a knee injury against Real Madrid last month. However, it is still uncertain whether he will return in time for the match, as he has yet to resume training with the team.

Slot had earlier suggested that both Konate and Conor Bradley (who also sustained a hamstring injury against Real Madrid) could return to training soon, but he remained cautious in his latest update regarding their availability for the Manchester United match.

“They will not be back for West Ham, but then there’s a week in between,” Slot said. “So, let’s see how close they are then. But it’s difficult for me to tell you at this point because they don’t train with the group yet.”

While Konate and Bradley’s returns are uncertain, Joe Gomez is unlikely to feature in the upcoming match after suffering a hamstring injury against West Ham. Gomez will undergo a scan to determine the severity of the injury. After being forced off in the 37th minute, Jarell Quansah replaced him, and Slot later indicated that Gomez could be sidelined for a significant period.

“If a player says he wants to stop, he has to be changed,” Slot explained. “In a sprint, then we all know it’s a hamstring and we all know it’s going to take a while before he is back. I don’t know how long, but he will be out for quite a bit.”

Federico Chiesa, who was not included in the squad for the West Ham match, was not sidelined due to injury. Slot clarified that the decision was based on managing the Italian’s fitness levels.

“We are working on two things,” Slot said. “We are working on his match fitness, and whenever we can, we try to bring him with the team. But he was on the bench during the week and we thought it was better for him to have some extra training sessions instead of joining us. So it’s the constant balance we have to find between getting him fitter and fitter and letting him join the team.”

Given the week-long gap between matches, Chiesa should be in contention to face Manchester United, despite ongoing concerns about his match fitness.