Liverpool’s Injury Picture Still Murky Going Into Keith Andrews’ Brentford

Liverpool travel to face a confident Brentford side under Keith Andrews without any real certainty over three key names, and that uncertainty is arguably the bigger story heading into the weekend. After the 3-0 loss to Manchester City and the frantic 6-3 win over LASK, Andoni Iraola is working with a squad that has not settled into a rhythm, and Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo are all doubtful for Saturday.

None of the three trained in time to feature against LASK, and Iraola was careful not to rule anyone in or out when asked about it on Thursday. He left the door open rather than closed, saying it was still too early to say for certain, which is roughly the same message he gave before the last couple of matches. It is the kind of answer that tells you very little and a great deal at the same time: nothing has been ruled out, but nothing has been confirmed either, and Liverpool fans are left to wait on training ground updates rather than firm news.

A Midfield Already Stretched Thin

Liverpool are already without Ryan Gravenberch, who picked up a red card in the City defeat and will serve his suspension at Brentford. That alone puts extra pressure on Iraola’s midfield options, and a fit Szoboszlai would go a long way to easing that problem. Without him, the responsibility likely shifts back onto Trey Nyoni, who is only 19 but has already had a taste of first team minutes recently and has looked comfortable enough in short bursts not to seem out of his depth.

Szoboszlai’s issue is hamstring tightness brought on by a heavy run of fixtures rather than a specific knock, which is exactly the kind of injury clubs tend to treat with caution these days. He sat out both the City game and Liverpool’s midweek trip in Europe, and with four straight home fixtures to come after this one, there is little incentive to gamble on him early if any doubt remains. Rushing a hamstring back before it is properly settled has burned plenty of clubs before, and Liverpool’s recent run of fixture congestion makes that risk even less appealing right now.

Isak and Gakpo Also in the Balance

Isak’s situation looks more straightforward on the surface. Liverpool’s £125m striker came back from international duty with a minor thigh problem and has missed Liverpool’s last two games as a result. Lewis Koumas has stepped in and did his own cause no harm with a goal against LASK, though nobody is pretending that a European night at home is the same test as going to Brentford, where space is tighter and the physical duels are harder to win. A teenage forward finding the net in a chaotic 6-3 game is a useful marker of potential, not proof that he is ready to lead the line away from home against a well organised Premier League defence.

Gakpo’s absence is a separate issue entirely, an ankle problem picked up while away with the Netherlands that has also kept him out of the last two matches. His versatility across the front three is something Liverpool have clearly missed, since he is one of the few attacking options capable of playing through the middle or out wide without any real drop off in quality. Losing all three of Szoboszlai, Isak and Gakpo at once strips a huge amount of structure out of the side in one go, and it is hard to think of many Liverpool sides in recent memory asked to cope with that scale of absence in the same areas of the pitch simultaneously.

The Longer-Term Absences Are Not Going Away

Beyond this weekend, Liverpool are still nursing two more serious recoveries and one delayed comeback that continues to frustrate everyone involved. Giovanni Leoni’s return from a complicated ACL injury has been pushed back again, with Iraola explaining that the rehabilitation has taken longer than hoped and that roughly a month has effectively been lost in the process. The message from the club remains one of patience rather than panic, with the plan now aiming for the next international break rather than this one, and Iraola has been clear that the priority is making sure Leoni does not suffer a setback once he is reintegrated.

Conor Bradley and Hugo Ekitike are further along, relatively speaking. Ekitike has been sidelined since rupturing his Achilles back in April, an injury that typically takes the best part of a year to fully overcome, while Bradley has been out with knee damage since January. Iraola described both as doing well and progressing according to plan, with Bradley closer to rejoining full training than Ekitike at this stage, already doing some partial work alongside the group rather than being kept entirely separate from it. December is being pencilled in as a realistic point for both to be back in and around the group, while Ekitike’s full return is more likely to stretch into January 2027 given the severity of the original injury.

Our Take

There is a pattern forming here that Liverpool fans will recognise from previous seasons: a squad that looks thin exactly when it needs depth the most. Losing Gravenberch to suspension on top of three attacking doubts is not the ideal backdrop for a trip to a Brentford side playing with real confidence under Andrews. Iraola will likely talk up the chance for younger players such as Nyoni and Koumas, and there is nothing wrong with that in principle, since both have shown enough in flashes to deserve a longer look. Even so, matches at this level are still usually decided by established quality rather than opportunity alone, and Brentford at home is not the kind of fixture where Liverpool want to be leaning too heavily on inexperience.

For now, all three of Szoboszlai, Isak and Gakpo remain genuine possibilities rather than certainties, with a final call likely to come close to kick off on Saturday morning. If Liverpool get two of the three back, the mood around this game changes considerably and Iraola gains real options on the bench as well as the starting eleven. If none of them make it, Iraola’s side will have to find a result the hard way, leaning on squad depth that has not really been tested in this combination before, and that in itself would be a fair indicator of exactly how far this Liverpool squad has come since the summer.