Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Diogo Jota faces "months" on the sidelines following the knee injury sustained at Brentford on Saturday.
The Premier League leaders welcome Luton Town to Anfield on Wednesday, before embarking on Wembley for the EFL Cup at the weekend.
However, Liverpool will be without Jota and potentially many more first-team players for the showpiece occasion against Chelsea on Sunday.
Jota was stretchered off at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday after a collision involving himself, Alexis Mac Allister and Christian Norgaard, who landed awkwardly on top of the Liverpool forward.
With five goals and three assists in just 11 games (seven starts) after returning from a previous injury, Jota shone in the absence of Mohamed Salah, who left for the Africa Cup of Nations in early January.
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Klopp could only deliver bad news to the Liverpool supporters ahead of a huge week in their season though, revealing that Jota faces a lengthy spell out.
"With Diogo, it will take months," Klopp confirmed in his pre-match press conference ahead of the clash with Luton tomorrow evening.
The manager was unable to give any specifics on a return though, stating: "I couldn't give you a time frame, even if I wanted to, so that's how it is."
Klopp did not disclose any information on the fitness of fellow attacking options Salah and Darwin Nunez though, as the latter was replaced at half time in West London on Saturday.
Reports have also suggested that Salah may have aggravated the hamstring issue which had ruled him out for almost a month following Egypt's AFCON elimination, after replacing Jota at the weekend.
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Klopp did not mask the fact they have numerous players out, with the majority of them set to miss the final against Chelsea.
"It is not great. Definitely not. I'd like to sit here and say we have absolutely no issues, but we have some." Klopp admitted.
In terms of availability for the Luton clash, Klopp said: "Not available, Alisson. That's a muscle injury where we don't know exactly how long it takes, but definitely not for the foreseeable time.
"We have Diogo Jota with a knee issue, Curtis Jones with a bone ligament issue and then we have the others where we will deal with it day-by-day.
"That's it, pretty much. Trent (Trent Alexander-Arnold) and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai) are on the way back, but not in team training yet and so that means they are not available as well."
While many eyes will be drawn to the cup final, it could be a very important midweek for Liverpool, as one of their title challengers Manchester City face Brentford 24 hours earlier, before having the chance to close the gap at the top while Liverpool are preparing for the Chelsea encounter at the weekend.
Andrew Delaney
