Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that midfielder Ryan Gravenberch appeared to sustain a hamstring injury in the Reds' 0-0 draw with Manchester United on Sunday.
The former Bayern Munich man trudged off the field alongside a physio in the 61st minute of the contest at Anfield, clapping the fans as he was replaced by Cody Gakpo.
Liverpool's midfield ranks have already been thinned by the long-term absences of Stefan Bajcetic (calf) and Thiago Alcantara (hip), while Alexis Mac Allister is also working his way back from a knee injury.
Speaking to reporters in his post-game press conference, Klopp revealed that Gravenberch had damaged his hamstring in the stalemate with the Red Devils, and he is not hopeful about the Dutchman's chances of being fit for the festive period.
"We will see. They told me directly after the game it got worse during the game, so that means it was not 'bam'. He felt a little bit and didn't show immediately," Klopp said.
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"We hoped it would go by, [but] it didn't. There was this really intense sprint with the ball which ended on the 18-yard line with a collision.
"I hope it is not that serious but we have in the next 10 days three more games, so I don't know if he will be part of them or one of them. We will see, we have to make a scan."
With all of Gravenberch, Thiago, Bajcetic and Mac Allister on the mend, Liverpool have been left with Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott as their senior midfield options in the thick of the unrelenting winter schedule.
Szoboszlai was hauled off the pitch alongside Gravenberch just after the hour mark on Sunday following an underwhelming display, as the Hungarian lost possession 15 times and failed to deliver one accurate cross from five attempts.
Szoboszlai and Gravenberch's withdrawals also sparked a system switch from Klopp, who brought on Joe Gomez to take up a right-back role as Trent Alexander-Arnold was shifted to a deep-lying midfield position.
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Explaining his rationale for sacrificing Szoboszlai early, Klopp insisted that the 23-year-old was still "exceptional" throughout the contest, adding: "Might have had two or three games ago where there was a slight development from the first impression he made obviously. It was always clear that things will not go like this – he's still a very young boy.
"But he was exceptional today in a lot of situations in the game. But then we lost a couple of balls and it had nothing to do with the substitution or whatever, it's just you have options to do it and we wanted to change system and then you have to think.
"We wanted to have Joey then higher, put him proper on the wing – same for Kosti – so you need players in these half-spaces and it was then Cody right, Lucho left and Mo putting in the centre, and then we changed again with Harvey on 10."
The German was also asked about the developing Premier League title race after his troops dropped points at home for the first time this season, but he affirmed that he could not care less about the battle for glory at this point of the new term.
Liverpool's failure to overcome Man United leaves the Reds second in the table, one point behind Arsenal ahead of next weekend's pivotal Anfield encounter with the Gunners, prior to which Klopp's side meet West Ham United in Wednesday's EFL Cup quarter-final.
Ben Knapton
