Liverpool kick off this weekend’s fixtures four points clear at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand on everybody but Everton.
The Reds travel to the Gtech Community Stadium to take on Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday and their training squad on Thursday was missing Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz.
Diaz played 75 minutes as the Reds drew with Nottingham Forest on Saturday. He was replaced by Curtis Jones as Liverpool manager Arne Slot looked for another way past Forest’s defence to turn one point into all three.
Luis Diaz should be available for Liverpool
While Jota is an injury doubt for Saturday’s fixture, Diaz is not injured and Slot expects him to be available to play against Brentford.
“I assume he is [OK],” the Liverpool boss told reporters at his pre-match press conference on Friday. “Yesterday he wasn’t allowed [at training] because he had, I think it was, a bit of a sore throat. But I assume he will be training with us today.”
Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez will all be available if Diaz isn’t deemed fit to return to the fold. Federico Chiesa might also be an option after he was an unused substitute in Liverpool’s first to Premier League games of 2025 either side of his first Reds goal against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup.
Diaz is ranked at number four in FourFourTwo’s list of the best left-wingers in the world right now and has featured in each of Liverpool’s Premier League fixtures this season apart from a home win against Leicester City on Boxing Day, when he was an unused substitute.
He has started 14 of the other 19, scoring eight goals as well as a hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League and a Carabao Cup goal against Brighton & Hove Albion in October.
Though there has been some criticism of a slightly tame individual performance against Forest, Diaz has been critical for the Premier League leaders this season. Only Salah has scored more times and only eight of his team-mates have played more league minutes in 2024-25.
Gakpo. Nunez and Jota have all played less than Diaz, while Chiesa continues to work his way back to full fitness but has played just 18 minutes in the Premier League.
Liverpool are going great guns this season and remain clear favourites to win their second title of the Premier League era, but they drew their last two games and scored only three times against Manchester United and Forest combined.
That’s a solid return by most teams’ standards, but it’s a dip compared to Liverpool’s season average. Limited options up front wouldn’t help Slot to correct course and Diaz’s probably availability would be welcome for the Reds.
