Arne Slot hopes to have Alexander Isak back for Liverpool’s last game

By Jonathan Veal, Press Association

Liverpool boss Arne Slot is hopeful Alexander Isak will be back for next weekend’s season finale against Brentford.

The Sweden international striker’s miserable first year at Anfield continued when a minor injury kept him out of Friday night’s 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa, which left the Reds’ Champions League hopes still hanging in the balance.

But Slot says Isak has a chance to return for a game which his side might have to win in order to seal European Cup qualification.

“Yes, there will definitely be a chance. He missed pre-season as we all know and then he broke his leg,” Slot said.

“We’ve tried to be as careful as we could with him, taking into account that our other No.9, Hugo Ekitike, is out for such a long time, so we needed him as a result of that even more.

“We’ve tried to be as careful as we could, but I don’t think it can come to anyone as a surprise if you miss your pre-season, if you then break your leg, that minor injuries can occur if you have to start in Premier League games immediately in that intensity.

“It’s just a bit of bad luck for him that in the moment of time when he comes back, Hugo gets injured and we need him more.

“I expect him to train with us this week, but I cannot give any guarantees.”

Liverpool put in another directionless performance at Villa Park where they succumbed to three set-piece goals – a recurring theme in recent weeks.

Slot knows it is up to him to fix the problem.

“It’s frustrating because as a manager you’re also responsible for if things happen time and time again,” he said.

“You are hired to try to prevent that for the next time. We scored two set-pieces over here, so usually you think if you go to an away game or any game where you score two set-pieces, usually you’re quite sure of a result – unless you concede three set-pieces, like we did.

“So against (Manchester) United, against Chelsea, in this game again, we have a negative balance in set-pieces and that makes it really hard if you play against equal teams – which United, Chelsea and Villa are – to win a game of football, and again that was shown.”