Liverpool issue Ryan Gravenberch injury statement after midfielder ruled out

Liverpool have offered some welcome news regarding Ryan Gravenberch's ankle injury, with manager Arne Slot easing concerns over the midfielder's fitness. Gravenberch was substituted just after the hour mark during Sunday's disappointing 2-1 Premier League home defeat to Manchester United, having twisted his ankle in a challenge with Casemiro.

The Netherlands international underwent medical examinations the day after to determine the severity of the injury and was omitted from the Reds' travelling party that departed on Tuesday afternoon for Wednesday's Champions League encounter at Eintracht Frankfurt. However, Slot anticipates Gravenberch won't face an extended spell on the sidelines and hasn't dismissed the possibility of his inclusion for Saturday evening's Premier League fixture at Brentford.

"Ryan is not available for the Frankfurt game, hopefully he will be available at the weekend," the Liverpool head coach said. "But it's an ankle injury, we have to wait and see, give him a bit of time and see where he is when we come back from Frankfurt.

"He has such a particular quality in our squad, which we've seen when we played Bournemouth for example, when we played the Community Shield - that we missed a little bit of a player that was always protecting our back four."

Gravenberch's potential return represents crucial news for Slot as Liverpool navigate a gruelling sequence of seven fixtures across 22 days that could prove pivotal to their campaign.

Following Brentford, Liverpool will host three home matches in three different competitions: Crystal Palace in the League Cup, Aston Villa in the Premier League and Real Madrid in the Champions League.

The Reds then face a trip to Manchester City before the November international break, in a showdown between the previous two champions.

Liverpool are still without their injured goalkeeper Alisson Becker, while young centre-back Giovanni Leoni is ruled out for the season following ACL surgery.

However, Wataru Endo is back in contention after missing the weekend's game due to a hamstring issue that also kept him out of Japan's recent international fixtures.

Liverpool's travelling squad

Gomez, Endo, Van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez, Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Isak, Mac Allister, Salah, Bradley, Chiesa, Jones, Gakpo, Ekitike, Mamardashvili, Robertson, Woodman, Frimpong, Ngumoha, Misciur.