Liverpool fans face a wait to see whether or not one Reds player in particular will make the matchday squad for the Boxing Day clash against Leicester.
Among everthing that happened in the madcap 6-3 win over Tottenham last Sunday, it might’ve gone unnoticed by some that Federico Chiesa wasn’t even among the substitutes, having just made his comeback from a three-month absence a few days previously with an eye-catching display against Southampton.
Arne Slot was asked in the post-match press conference in north London (as part of footage which was embargoed until Christmas Day as a preview for tonight’s match) why the 27-year-old didn’t make the trip to take on Spurs at the weekend.
The Liverpool head coach explained (via Redmen TV 2): “Sick, ill, unfortunately for him because he had some minutes against Southampton, but unfortunately he was sick in the last two days and today as well, so we couldn’t bring him to the game.”
When Chiesa played 45 minutes off the bench in the Carabao Cup win over Southampton last week, it seemed as though it might finally kickstart what has thus far been an abortive Reds career, having had just three previous appearances (all in September) since his move to Anfield four months ago (Transfermarkt).
Frustratingly, he was unable to gain momentum from his return at St Mary’s by the poorly-timed illness which ruled him out of the Spurs game, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll have shaken that off in time to feature against Leicester tonight.
With four days having elapsed since the win over Tottenham, it seems plausible that the Italian’s ailment will have subsided by now and that he’ll at least be available to take his place on the bench at Anfield against the Foxes.
Chiesa is nearly halfway through his first season at Liverpool but has yet to have the opportunity to properly get going on Merseyside due to a combination of injuries and illness. Let’s hope that such problems are finally a thing of the past and that we’ll see plenty of him on the pitch in 2025.
