Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Thiago Alcantara sustained a new muscular injury in last week's defeat to Arsenal, although he expects the luckless Spaniard to play again before the season is over.
Following nearly 10 months out with a hip injury, Thiago made a welcome return to the matchday squad at the Emirates, where the Gunners put a dent in Liverpool's title aspirations with a 3-1 victory.
Thiago was given a second-half run-out in the defeat to Mikel Arteta's side, replacing Joe Gomez with five minutes of normal time remaining, and the Bayern Munich man had 10 touches of the ball and attempted 10 passes in his cameo appearance.
However, reports emerged earlier this week that the 32-year-old had picked up a muscular problem against Arsenal and would be set for another spell on the sidelines, rumours which Klopp confessed were true in Friday's press conference.
While Thiago stands to miss Saturday's visit of Burnley to Anfield, Klopp has stressed that the midfielder's latest setback is not a major one, and he is hopeful that the Spaniard will be able to don the Liverpool kit again at some point this season.
"Thiago, obviously, is not cool. Everything looked absolutely fantastic in training. We showed quite a lot of things, I think, on LFCTV so you can see the training moments and it looks outstanding so you think, 'Come on, take him, we have the opportunity, let him play a few minutes'," liverpoolfc.com quotes Klopp as saying.
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"It's a muscle issue, we don't know the extent yet. We have to wait there a little bit, but it's not cool, of course. It was really not good news for him, for us, for everybody. On top of losing the game already and having that is not good.
"Yes [I expect him to play again this season], but we didn't really think about that, in the moment we just treat the injury and get a full assessment done and knowing exactly where it came from. It's not the intensity and stuff like this, so there are different things.
"It's just the normal procedure and it would not be a big story if he wouldn't have been out for that long a time. That's how it is. It's not a big, big injury, definitely not, but it's obviously something nobody needed."
Thiago will be one of eight guaranteed absentees for the Reds this weekend, as Ben Doak (knee), Joel Matip (knee) and Stefan Bajcetic (calf) are still sidelined for the long-term, while Ibrahima Konate must serve a one-match ban on account of his red card in the loss to Arsenal.
In addition, Conor Bradley will miss a second successive match following the death of his father, and Klopp also revealed that neither Mohamed Salah nor Dominik Szoboszlai will be passed fit for Saturday's match.
Salah has not played for Liverpool since New Year's Day due to the Africa Cup of Nations and his subsequent muscular injury, although the Egyptian is pushing to return to training next week.
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"Right direction. We hope, but we don't know, we hope that he can be part of parts of training next week. But we have to see, he is going through all the phases now and it's positive. It's either next week or the week after," Klopp added.
Meanwhile, Szoboszlai - who was rumoured to be absent from the Liverpool squad on the eve of the Arsenal fixture - is still nursing his hamstring complaint, and Klopp could not confirm whether he would be fit for the EFL Cup final against Chelsea on February 25.
"Dom is running outside in the moment, in the winter rain, and is not ready for tomorrow, of course not. Then we have to see. It's like it always is with these tendon things; pretty quickly the player is pain-free and then it's all about... it's muscle [and] it's pretty much the same that he had before," the German said.
"That's obviously really not good that he got that again. He didn't feel a great issue but when you see then the pictures you just have to take him out and now we are fighting for days, if you want. Is it Brentford, is it the [Carabao Cup] final or is it after the final? I don't know in the moment."
A bout of flu has also made its way through the squad, but on a pair of brighter notes, Wataru Endo is expected to be available after Japan's exit from the Asian Cup, while Kostas Tsimikas - who has been out with a broken collarbone since December 23 - is back in full training with his teammates.
Liverpool enter the weekend two points clear of Arsenal and Manchester City at the top of the table, although they will be demoted to second for at least a couple of hours if the champions overcome Everton in Saturday's lunchtime kickoff.
Ben Knapton
