Jeremie Frimpong injury: Liverpool defender ruled out until after the international break, missing Newcastle and Arsenal games

Liverpool defender Jeremie Frimpong will miss the Reds’ games against Newcastle and Arsenal; the Dutch defender came off against Bournemouth in the Premier League season opener; watch Liverpool’s games vs Newcastle and Arsenal live on Sky Sports this month

Liverpool defender Jeremie Frimpong will miss the club’s next two league games

Liverpool defender Jeremie Frimpong has been ruled out until after the September international break.

The Dutch defender – who limped off during the Premier League opener against Bournemouth – will miss Liverpool’s crucial games against Newcastle on Monday, and Arsenal on the following Sunday. Both games are live on Sky Sports.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot said: “The medical team was completely right about Jeremie, to tell me I had to take him off because he’s out until the end of the international break

“I think I got criticised a bit by taking him off. [The medical staff] felt he had an issue in his hamstring. Good call to take him off otherwise he might have been out for longer. We expect to have him back after the international br

Conor Bradley returned to training with the first team on Thursday while Joe Gomez is another right-back option in the squad – but Slot said he has not played a lot of minutes, raising doubts about his ability to start.

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“Conor played for a few minutes with us today, for the first time,” said Slot, who also revealed Wataru Endo and Dominik Szoboszlai could also fit in at right-back. Curtis Jones has also slotted in at right-back before for Liverpool and England.

“These things happen in a season. We have only at the moment two injuries – unfortunately it’s two for the same position,”

“The good thing is some others can play in that position as well. Wataru played in that position for a few minutes, Dominik Szoboszlai already played in that position. There are other options we can explore

Conor Bradley has also been injured at the start of this season

“Joe Gomez is definitely one of them. But for him to already play 20 minutes, that was already quite a lot. I wouldn’t say he had a setback but he wasn’t able to train three days in a row completely with the team. It’s completely normal if you’ve been out for so long and all of a sudden the manager needs you for 20 minutes.

“He’s training with the team so let’s see where he is on Monday, if he can be involved in the team or if he can even start. But there are other options as well.

“You cannot prepare for two injuries in one position. It would be stupid for us to have three full-backs or five left-backs – although we have three left-backs!”

Slot: Gravenberch return a boost amid defensive woes

Liverpool received some criticism for their defending in the season opener against Bournemouth, with Jamie Carragher calling it “absolutely shocking”.

However, the Reds will be boosted by the return of midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, who was suspended last Friday following a red card on the final day of last season.

“If he’s the same player as he was last season that could help us a lot,” said Slot of Gravenberch.

“If you look at the second goal we conceded [against Bournemouth] they could go from one side to the other side without being attacked. If you look back at last season, every single time Ryan played, he would have been in that position.

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“For him not being there and us playing with very good players but very attacking-minded players, that for example hurt us in that goal. And that wasn’t the first time where we lacked a player in that position in a counter-attack for the other team.”

Liverpool’s next six fixtures

August 25: Newcastle (A), Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports

August 31: Arsenal (H), Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports

September 14: Burnley (A), Premier League, kick-off 2pm, live on Sky Sports

September 16-18: First Champions League game of the season