Brighton injury news: Liverpool earn fitness boost with key man out

Liverpool have earned a boost ahead of their trip to Brighton, as key figure Pervis Estupinan won’t be available for selection.

The 25-year-old has been in strong form at the start of the new campaign, managing one goal and three assists in six league games so far.

However, he was brought off at half-time during the heavy 6-1 loss to Aston Villa over the weekend, and he’ll be a big miss for De Zerbi given that he started 31 times and made 35 appearances in the league last season.

Speaking ahead of their Europa League clash with Marseille, he revealed the full-back will be out for around a month: “He’s injured and can’t play for a long time,’ said De Zerbi. “One month, more or less. I don’t know the right time but it’s a muscular injury and it is not for a game or two.

‘Unfortunately, it is an important player we are losing but we can play in that position with Tariq Lamptey, Igor Julio or others. We have to be ready with others.”

The Ecuador international has developed into one of their most important players and has formed a strong partership with Karou Mitoma on the left-flank, and his absence will certainly make Liverpool’s task easier on the weekend. In his place is likely to Tariq Lamptey, who replaced him during the defeat at Villa.

Brighton’s form since beating Manchester United 3-1 in September has been poor as they’ve lost three of their last four games in all competitions. However, they were unbeaten against Jurgen Klopp’s side last season, scoring three times in a high-scoring draw at Anfield before earning a 3-0 win in the league and 2-1 victory in the FA Cup in January of this year - both of which came at the Amex Stadium.

But Klopp’s side should arrive with plenty of confidence, despite their late defeat to Spurs over the weekend, as they were unbeaten prior to Saturday’s game - but they will have to face Brighton without either of Curtis Jones or Diogo Jota following their suspensions, as well as Cody Gakpo who suffered a knee injury.

Before then, both sides have business in the Europa League to attend to before the game on Sunday, as Brighton are set to face Marseille away while Liverpool host Belgian side Union SG at Anfield, as they look to build on their opening group game win over LASK.