Liverpool suffer huge injury blow as star set 'to miss' Carabao Cup final

Liverpool are reportedly set to be without key figure Trent Alexander-Arnold for the Carabao Cup final.

Alexander-Arnold, 25, recently missed three games in a row against Bournemouth and Fulham (twice) and returned to the side against Norwich on January 31, but he has only started two of the four games since.

Jurgen Klopp's side have a date with Chelsea at Wembley on February 25 but, according to Paul Joyce of the Times, Alexander-Arnold will not be available. He revealed that the defender has aggravated an existing knee injury and it's unclear how long he will be out for, however, his absence for the final is a big blow.

The two sides played out two highly-entertaining 0-0 draws in both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup finals in 2022 and, prior to the 4-1 win at Anfield a few weeks ago, they had drawn their previous seven encounters. Connor Bradley is back training with the Liverpool squad after his leave of absence following his father's passing and he will be important and will start in the cup final with Alexander-Arnold now out.

Klopp spoke after Alexander-Arnold's most recent appearance against Burnley in which he was forced off at half-time. After the match Klopp shared: "His knee again? Yes, it felt like that. He got it stuck in the grass and we will see. We have [to send for] assessment. Same area in the knee. Nothing really bad, but he felt it again and we have to see, we have to assess it. Trent said it's fine, but it's not fine [because] he feels it so we had to be careful and took him off."

Dominik Szoboszlai is also a huge miss as he is currently sidelined after aggravating a previous injury and he may also miss the final. The only other absentees are Ben Doak, Joel Matip, Thiago and Stefan Bajcetic and we only see the young midfielder return before the end of the season. But Klopp is boosted by the return of Alisson and Joe Gomez after illness and Mohamed Salah may also be ready to return to action against Brentford.