'Wait and see' - Liverpool to assess injured ace ahead of Manchester United clash

Liverpool could be without Curtis Jones for their trip to Manchester United this weekend. The midfielder has a minor muscle injury and sat out of their most recent league fixture against Brentford.

The Merseyside outfit head to Old Trafford on the back of back-to-back wins to start the new Premier League season. They turned to Arne Slot as their new manager following Jurgen Klopp’s exit.

United’s upcoming opponents beat the Bees 2-0 at home last time out. Mo Salah and Luis Diaz were on the scoresheet for them. Speaking after the match, Slot shared this update on Jones’ condition: "It's going to be close but we'll have to wait and see. It's always difficult to see how an injury evolves — if that is the right word — during the upcoming week. He is not going to be out for a long time but it's going to be close for him to get there next week and I'm quite sure he is going to do everything to try and be ready.

"In Holland, we always said we cannot say anything about injuries. Maybe that is different here! It is to do with privacy."

Jones, who is 23-years-old, also missed Liverpool’s first match of the campaign against Ipswich Town and it remains to be seen when he will be fit again. They will need to assess him before they play United and have other options to pick from like Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister.

The Liverpool-born man has been on the books of his local team for his whole career to date. He rose up through their academy ranks and was a regular for them at various different youth levels before breaking into their first-team.

He has made 133 appearances in all competitions to date and has chipped in with 16 goals, five of which came last term. The ex-England Under-21 international is still waiting on his senior debut for the Three Lions.

United won 1-0 at home to Fulham in their first outing with striker Joshua Zirkzee scoring the winner. However, they were beaten 2-1 at the AMEX Stadium by Brighton and Hove Albion last time out so will be eager to bounce back with a positive result against Liverpool but will be in for a tough test.

Erik ten Hag has called for better game management from his players: “We have good potential but we have to keep going until the end because where we concede, in the Community Shield [against Manchester City], almost in stoppage time. Now, in stoppage time, we concede a goal and you have to keep going until the end.

“The game is finished when the referee whistles three times and that is what we didn’t do well. Game management – we should improve that.”