Liverpool hit with Alexis Mac Allister suspension after surprise Luton draw

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Luton Town vs Liverpool in pictures

Liverpool will be without midfielder Alexis Mac Allister for the visit of Brentford next Sunday after their disappointing 1-1 draw with relegation battlers Luton. The Reds almost suffered a historic reverse at Kenilworth Road on Sunday afternoon but substitute Luis Diaz cancelled out ex-Manchester United attacker Tahith Chong’s opener in stoppage time.

Diaz – whose kidnapped father still has not been reunited with the family – scored a 95th-minute equaliser to spare Liverpool a humiliating defeat. But before the frantic finale and even before Chong’s finish, Mac Allister was booked 10 minutes into the second half for a cynical foul on Andros Townsend who was on the counter-attack.

That was his fifth booking in 11 Premier League games as he plays in an unfamiliar No 6 role for Jurgen Klopp. Players who accumulate five yellows in the first 19 matches of the season are automatically handed a one-match ban to be served in the next league game.

Liverpool also have Trent Alexenader-Arnold on three cautions and will be hoping he can keep it clean in the next few fixtures. Argentine World Cup winner Mac Allister, signed from Brighton in the summer, will now be unavailable for the next match.

Liverpool’s next domestic contest sees Thomas Frank’s Bees visit Anfield after their 3-2 defeat of West Ham this weekend, which leaves them ninth. The Merseyside club are third after their late draw.

Wataru Endo will be the main candidate to come into the midfield against Brentford, with Curtis Jones another. Jones missed the clash against Luton due to a minor knock which prevented him from training on Friday. Klopp will hope he can call upon the academy graduate next time out.

Harvey Elliott is the final contender to start with Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic still making their way back from injuries. The Reds still have a game to come before Brentford with a trip to France to face Toulouse in the Europa League group stages.

Mac Allister may now start that match given he will not play at the weekend. Klopp confirmed before the trip to Luton that Thiago will not play any part for his team until 2024.

“With Thiago it’s slightly different. It’s an ongoing thing,” Klopp said. “And we cannot put any kind of pressure there as well, but we expect him to be back probably start of the New Year. It’s now already November, that would mean another four weeks, I would say that’s probably a realistic thing to try.

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“We can’t wait, to be honest, to have him back. The player is just exceptional. I understand that you ask, but we can’t now have a week-by-week update, because that will not change a lot in this moment.”

Klopp also said of Bajcetic, who suffered a setback after returning to the team in September: “It’s one of these things. Let me say it like this, Stefan’s quality, potential, talent or whatever, everybody could see and it’s incredible. What a player. But he was not ready yet, that’s how it is. They’re still growing, these boys.

“They’re all different. We have other players with a different [skeletal growth], a different body, and OK that’s fine. With others it’s a bit too early, so we just have to put the brake on again and just wait until that’s all fine. Then Liverpool FC has a wonderful player, a wonderful player, to use. But there’s absolutely no time that we can put on that, and we will not, we just have to wait.

“He’s here, he’s training, he’s doing his stuff. We know how good he is, now we have to make sure that we help him to get a body to show that – and not only once, but then three times a week. And we will get there, very good news for the club. In the moment, we cannot use him and that’s all.”

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