Double injury blow for Liverpool ahead of West Ham as Klopp confirms major setback

Liverpool have been handed a double injury blow ahead of their trip to West Ham with Dejan Lovren ruled out and Joe Gomez facing an extended spell on the sidelines, according to the Guardian.

Gomez suffered a fractured leg during Liverpool’s win at Burnley on December 5th and the young defender was initially only expected to be out for around six weeks.

The injury has proven far more serious than first thought and 10 weeks later Gomez is still no closer to making his comeback with Klopp admitting on Friday that he would definitely miss Liverpool’s Champions League first leg with Bayern Munich on February 19th.

However, it seems Gomez could be facing another lengthy spell on the sidelines as Klopp has now revealed that the 21-year-old is set to see a specialist to determine the best course of action and another operation is ‘probably’ going to be required to get the defender back to full fitness.

Klopp is quoted as saying by the Guardian:

“It is not exactly going how we want – that’s how it is. He needs more time. We will see exactly how we do it. There were different moments we thought we could do this or that but it will take time. We can not say more.”

Asked whether Gomez required another operation, the manager replied:

“I don’t know. We will see. It is possible, probably.”

It’s a huge setback for Liverpool as Gomez had formed an excellent partnership alongside Virgil van Dijk in the middle of the back four before his untimely injury at Turf Moor.

In a double blow, the Guardian claims that Klopp also confirmed Lovren has suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury and is expected to miss Monday’s trip to West Ham.

Lovren has been hampered by a hamstring problem throughout the season and hasn’t featured for Liverpool since limping off during their FA Cup defeat at Wolves in early January.

He returned to the bench for the midweek draw with Leicester City but the Guardian says the Croatian international is still feeling discomfort and will miss the trip to the London Stadium.

The injury isn’t thought to be too serious so Lovren shouldn’t be on the sidelines for long but Joel Matip is set to continue alongside Van Dijk against the Hammers with Lovren and Gomez ruled out.

There is better news on Trent Alexander-Arnold as the right-back is set to return to full training next week and although he’ll miss the West Ham game, the 21-year-old should be in contention to face Bournemouth next weekend.