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With Liverpool currently in the midst of a central defense crisis, seeing Fabinho, who has been performing admirably as a central defender since Virgil van Dijk’s ACL tear, wake up with a non-contact hamstring injury in the first half against FC Midtjylland yesterday was a terrifying sight.
Rhys Williams performed well as a reliever and Liverpool kept a clean sheet, but the overwhelming post-match narrative was that the LFC could be facing several months without Fabinho. When a player grabs his hamstring like the Brazilian did, he can generally be expected to miss at least a month at best.
Fortunately, according to a report from The Mirror, Fabinho underwent a scan that showed that he had avoided suffering a serious injury that could have stopped him for up to six months. It looks like he could miss out on just a few weeks of action, and there is some hope that he may be ready once Liverpool resume play after the next international break.
Unfortunately, even if Fabinho does return after the break (which seems more hopeful than realistic to be honest), he will not appear in Liverpool’s next three games. Meanwhile, Joel Matip has just returned to light training while recovering from a leg injury.
That means Joe Gomez will likely team up with Rhys Williams or Nat Phillips, who have combined for just five senior appearances for Liverpool, against West Ham on Saturday. It’s hard to imagine Matip being able to play 180 minutes in a six-day span even if he returned to the lineup in the next few days. So it is almost certain that Williams or Phillips will be in the starting eleven during one, if not both, of Liverpool’s meetings with Atalanta and Manchester City next week as well.
So while the news that Fabinho’s injury was less severe than originally feared is certainly welcome, the next three games are likely to be a matter of nervousness. Facing Atalanta and Manchester City will be a litmus test for Williams and / or Phillips. All we can do is hope the young defenders are ready for the test.
