It's a sight of which Liverpool supporters still hope they won't have soon have to become accustomed. But the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold this week once again opens the door for the player who has long been touted as his eventual successor.

With Alexander-Arnold having not recovered from the thigh problem that forced him off during the second half of last Saturday's Premier League win at Bournemouth, Conor Bradley will now be expected to step into the breach when Tottenham Hotspur visit for the League Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday evening.

This, though, is nothing new for the Northern Ireland international, who started the first leg a month ago with Alexander-Arnold replacing him on the hour.

READ MORE: Tottenham Hotspur double boost confirmed ahead of League Cup semi-final vs Liverpool

READ MORE: Arne Slot response to Liverpool transfer question speaks volumes as 'unusual' Tottenham claim made

And with the first-choice right-back hampered by injury for much of the second half of last season, Bradley started both games of the semi-final win over Fulham and then began the final against Chelsea before being pushed further forward on to the right wing.

Having earlier won the EFL Trophy at Wembley during his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers and been an international regular since 17, the now 21-year-old's reputation has been forged on the big occasion. Indeed, his performance in the Champions League victory over holders and European Super League advocates Real Madrid in November is widely regarded as the best of his still burgeoning career.

But it's easy to forget just how little Bradley has played this season. That game against Real was only his fourth start of the campaign and ended with the youngster limping off with a hamstring problem that ruled him out for a month.

His first start on his return was the 1-0 first leg defeat to Tottenham last month, after which there have been Champions League starts against Lille and PSV Eindhoven. In just under 10 months, Bradley has been in the starting XI just seven times. And his total of 801 minutes so far this campaign ranks him only 18th in terms of time on the pitch among the Liverpool squad.

Small wonder, then, that the defender has looked a little rusty at times, most recently the game in Holland where, as part of a scratch defence, two of the three PSV goals game down his side.

“Every single game, every single training session has something to learn, or if it isn’t it wasn’t a good training session I gave them because you are trying to give them something they can learn from every single session and game," says Liverpool boss Arne Slot.

"I think we played in Eindhoven quite a good game if you take into account the team we picked, which had hardly ever played together, but we did concede three goals. If I take a closer look at those three goals I don’t even think we did much wrong for the goals, only some small details.

"That is something at the level of PSV or (against Tottenham) if you do a small detail wrong you can concede a goal. That is the feedback we gave Conor, he wasn’t involved in every goal but he was in one where he didn’t follow the overlap aggressively enough and that led to the third goal."

A solid showing when replacing Alexander-Arnold for the final quarter at Bournemouth last weekend suggests Bradley has already been paying attention.

“I think it’s going to be a bright future for him because he’s a very good player and very good players are what we need here at Liverpool," said Slot when talking about Bradley in October. "Although he has big competition from Trent, normally very good players find their way into the team. That’s what I also expect with him in the future at this club.”

Thursday evening represents another chance to prove that, and there will be no concerns at the youngster lining up for Liverpool with a place at Wembley at stake. After all, Bradley has already demonstrated he is a player for the grandest occasion.