Arne Slot Provides Injury Update On Liverpool Midfielder Curtis Jones

Arne Slot has provided the latest injury update on Curtis Jones following Liverpool's 2-1 win over Lille at Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday night. The Reds have now been confirmed a top-eight finish in the league phase and therefore an automatic place in the last 16.

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Jones was forced off at half-time due to a knock and was replaced by Harvey Elliott. The England midfielder provided the assist for Mohamed Salah’s opener before picking up the issue during the first half.

Jonathan David bagged the equaliser for the Ligue 1 side just moments after being reduced to 10 men but Elliott’s strike ensured a seventh consecutive victory in the league phase for Liverpool.

The Premier League leaders will be seeded in the Round of 16 and face a winner from the knockout play-offs, which are contested by those teams who place ninth to 24th in the league phase.

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Speaking at his post-match press conference, Arne Slot explained why he substituted Jones at halftime. Slot said: “The idea was to take Dom and Ryan off at half-time, but Curtis unfortunately couldn’t continue, so that’s why Dom stayed [on] a bit longer.

“Conor, the idea was to play 90 but in the end you could see that it got tougher and tougher and tougher for him in terms of load, so you don’t want to take the risk of him getting injured in the last few minutes like it happened against [Real] Madrid.

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“We wanted to win this game, but we were also aware of the fact that we had to manage the load because we would have been really, really, really unlucky if we’d have lost twice and still not been in the top eight.

“As we know now, I think 18 points would have been enough to play top eight, but now with 21 there’s no discussion anymore.”

Asked specifically about Jones’ fitness, Slot added: “There was a moment in the game where he felt [something] and he said let’s play for five more minutes and then see how it is, but [then] he said he had to go off at half-time.”

Liverpool will take on PSV Eindhoven in their final group game on January 29.

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