Despite closing in on Man United, 'Slots' reveals bad news for Liverpool after their win over West Ham to move up to 5th in the Premier League.
On 1 March 2026, Arne 'Slots,' Liverpool's coach, gave an interview after the 28th round of the 2025-26 English Premier League season, where Liverpool hosted and defeated 18th-place West Ham United 5-2.
This victory temporarily moved Liverpool up to 5th place in the Premier League standings, increasing their points to 48, equal to 4th-place Manchester United, and ahead of 6th-place Chelsea, who have 45 points. However, the 'Reds' have played one more match than both the 'Red Devils' and the 'Blues,' who were scheduled to play later that day.
However, Arne 'Slots' revealed bad news for Liverpool: attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, who has been sidelined with a back injury and missed the last two matches, will not recover in time for the midweek Premier League game away at Wolverhampton on Tuesday, 3 March.
The Liverpool coach discussed Wirtz's chances of recovery for the Wolverhampton match, saying, "I think it's still too soon, but as I said last week, I didn't expect him to be ready to play today."
"Sometimes injuries can improve or worsen. Right now, we think it won't take too long, but returning by Tuesday might be too soon."
"Next week will be quite tight given the current situation, but as I mentioned, I thought he would be ready to play today as well, which unfortunately wasn’t the case."
Currently, Liverpool has a total of seven injured players, as follows:
Florian Wirtz (back)
Alexander Isak (leg)
Conor Bradley (knee)
Wataru Endo (foot)
Giovanni Leoni (torn anterior cruciate ligament)
Stefan Bajcetic (hamstring)
Jayden Danes (hamstring)
