Slott: There are discussions with the trio, and we're used to that

Liverpool coach Arne Slot appeared in a press conference, to talk about facing Brighton, tomorrow, in the tenth round of the English Premier League.

The coach said: “Alison Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa will not be available before the international break. It is difficult to put an exact time frame for their return.”

He added: “Alistair will face his former team. He is a player I would like He plays in all three positions in Midfield because he is very comfortable in all three positions, I saw him a lot at Brighton because there was a coach I was very interested in at the time [Roberto De Zerbe].”

He continued: "Alistair is now a midfielder who plays a little between the positions. Ryan Gravenberch is almost always the deepest, Szoboszlai or Curtis Jones, they play a little higher and then Alexis is in between them."

He stressed: “It depends on the extent of our dominance Whether it's the second 10 or the second 6. He's comfortable in both phases of the game. He can help us get the ball out from the back and he's also able to make a difference in and around the 18-yard box. We want to see him in both positions as much as we can."

On the rotation between Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas in the left-back position: “I don’t think this is a dilemma. There are other positions we have rotated in, perhaps it also has to do with Robertson's pre-season. As he did not have a pre-season he returned injured from the European Championship, so he missed almost the entire pre-season. For most of them, it was only a couple of weeks, but for him it was just a few days.”

He stressed: “Kostas did really well in that period of time, so... It's about the quality Kostas has in that position, but it's also about Robertson missing pre-season. That's why we started rotating from the beginning a little bit. That's the situation, it was good for Robertson to play against Arsenal and against Brighton in midweek. This ensures that he gets into the rhythm of playing twice a week.”

And about facing Brighton for the second time this week: “In football we are used to playing with the same team [again] after A few days. “Both teams did not start [on Wednesday] with the same team as they will start on Saturday, and I think that is a positive thing with both coaches because you know a little bit about the opponent.”

He continued: “ The way we occupied the number nine position was interesting because I thought it worked really well. In the end I prefer to play with a real number nine but that is not possible if we suffer injuries. It was good to score three goals without playing with the traditional number nine.”

He concluded about the future of Van Dijk, Salah and Arnold, whose contracts expire in the summer: “The contract situation may become a problem.” If the players don't perform as they are doing at the moment, but they are very mature at the moment, all three are in a good place and there are discussions going on