He contributed to the loss Arne Slot Admits He Took a ‘Risk’ in substituting Liverpool’s star

Arne Slot Admits He Took a ‘Risk’ with Liverpool’s Conor Bradley in Aston Villa Draw

Liverpool manager Arne Slot admitted he took a ‘risk’ by playing Conor Bradley during the 2-2 draw against Aston Villa on Wednesday night in the Premier League.

Bradley, who replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 66th minute, was forced to leave the field due to injury in the final moments of the match.

Slot confirmed that Bradley is now expected to miss at least the next two matches, against Manchester City and Newcastle United. This injury is another setback for the 21-year-old right-back, who has also struggled with previous injuries, including a hamstring issue in December.

After the game, which saw Liverpool fail to extend their lead to 10 points over second-placed Arsenal in the title race, Slot spoke to TNT Sports. He explained that both Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold could only play for 60 minutes, which led to the substitutions.

“I would have loved to keep them on the field, but we have to play again on Sunday and Wednesday,” said Slot. “You saw with Conor Bradley how risky it was. But Jota and Trent played well.”

In his post-match press conference, Slot added that Bradley felt discomfort when sprinting and tried to continue but had to leave the pitch.

“Whenever a player wants to come off themselves, it’s not a good sign,” Slot said. “It’s likely that Bradley will be out for both the Manchester City and Newcastle games. We will see if he’ll be out for one or two weeks or even longer.”

Liverpool initially took the lead through Mohamed Salah, but Villa responded with goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins. However, Alexander-Arnold scored an equalizer before being substituted.

The draw leaves Liverpool with an eight-point lead over Arsenal, who have played one less game. Arsenal now have a chance to reduce the gap to five points with a win in their next match.