Arne Slot admits Liverpool have injury concern for Manchester United match

Arne Slot admits Curtis Jones faces a race against time to be available for Liverpool’s visit to Manchester United next weekend. Jones, who was on the bench in the opening day win at Ipswich Town, suffered a minor muscle problem in training during the week that ruled him out of Sunday’s 2-0 Premier League win over Brentford at Anfield.

The Reds journey down the other end of the East Lancs Road next Sunday to put their 100% start to the season on line against their bitter North West rivals.

And Slot admits there is a chance Jones will miss the clash at Old Trafford.

“It’s going to be close,” said the Liverpool boss. “It’s always difficult to see how an injury evolves during the upcoming week.

“He won’t be out for a long time but it will be close for him to be here next week. But I’m quite sure he will try to do everything to be ready for next week. It’s not a big injury.”

Wataru Endo made his first appearance of the season from the bench for the closing moments against Brentford having fallen down the midfield pecking order during pre-season under Slot.

Liverpool, though, turned down a bid form Marseille for the Japan international last month with the Reds boss believing the midfielder will be required over the course of this season.

Explaining Endo’s lack of minutes in recent weeks, Slot said: “It’s not always about the player himself but the competition he faces.

“We have many good midfielders and are really pleased with how Wata is training for us but he has some good competition, and I think you saw today a good performance from all three midfielders.

“It’s not always about him, it’s also about the others. But he will be important for us during the season as we need all of them. We all know how long as season can be over here and how many players we need.”