ARNE SLOT claims Liverpool’s defensive resources are being stretched to the limit ahead of their midweek trip to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United.

Liverpool will definitely be without Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley on Wednesday evening, with the pair both having suffered injuries in last week’s Champions League win over Real Madrid.

Konate was pictured on crutches, with his knee in a brace, during Liverpool’s weekend win over Manchester City, and is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Bradley has suffered a hamstring injury and has also been ruled out of the trip to Tyneside.

To further reduce Liverpool’s defensive resources, Kostas Tsimikas was also spotted on crutches at the weekend, meaning he is almost certain to be unavailable on Wednesday evening.

Slot can still name the backline that started against Manchester City at the weekend, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in the full-back positions and Joe Gomez partnering Virgil van Dijk at centre-half, but Jarell Quansah is likely to be the only other defender in the squad at St James’.

“They (Konate and Bradley) will both be out for a few weeks,” confirmed Slot. “I’ve said many times before, it is always difficult to judge how many weeks exactly because you can think in the beginning, ‘Oh, it’s probably going to be like this’, but in the end stage of the injury process it can always differ a bit.

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“They will not be in the team this week, for sure. Both of them. Actually, I don’t think Kostas will be with us in the upcoming week as well. These players that we have available now, it’s more important now, even more than normal, for them to stay fit.”

With that in mind, Slot withdrew Alexander-Arnold in the 73rd minute of the win over Manchester City to ensure his availability for the game with Newcastle.

“He (Alexander-Arnold) was able to play longer,” said Slot. “But knowing we play Newcastle and the Merseyside derby with only five (defenders) available, we have to take care of them.”

Wednesday’s trip to Tyneside precedes a weekend derby meeting with Everton, and with his side sitting at the top of the Premier League table, Slot is expecting two white-hot atmospheres in the course of the week.

“We hope we can keep putting these performances in, which is needed because now it is Newcastle away and they are very intense with their fans,” said the Liverpool boss. “People told me that the Everton fans can be intense as well. But first, Newcastle.”