Liverpool suffer injury blow after draw with Aston Villa - will Conor Bradley play against Man City?

With the reigning champions still reeling from their Champions League defeat to Real Madrid, they will likely be going all-out to bounce back against the current league leaders.

But Liverpool will likely have to contend without one of their defenders - who had been brought in to deputise for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Reds drew 2-2 against Aston Villa last night (February 19) with goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins forcing Arne Slot’s side to settle for a point.

Towards the end of the game at Villa Park, defender Conor Bradley (who was brought on in the second half to replace Alexander-Arnold) signalled to be brought off, having picked up a muscle injury in the dying moments of the match. He joins fellow defender Joe Gomez and striker Cody Gakpo on Liverpool’s injury list.

Now, Slot has updated fans on his injury - and how long he’ll be sidelined for.

He said: “It’s difficult; he felt a bit when he made a sprint. He tried to continue but had to go out. All the time with injuries, I always say if a player wants to go out himself, that’s not a promising sign.

“That will probably lead to the fact he’s 99.9 per cent sure not available for City and I don’t expect him [to play] against Newcastle as well. Then we have to see if it’s one or two weeks or if it’s going to be even longer.”

Liverpool’s game with Newcastle will be a mid-week fixture, with the Reds currently eight points clear of Arsenal in the Premier League.