Bradley Barcola is available for Liverpool's Premier League meeting with Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on Sunday, but Andoni Iraola will be without Dominik Szoboszlai, while Victor Muñoz remains a doubt. Barcola missed Thursday's first-team training session, raising concerns over his fitness ahead of the weekend. However, Iraola confirmed on Friday that the French winger's absence was simply a precaution as Liverpool continue to manage his workload.
"Bradley has trained today, normally, no problem," Iraola told reporters. "It was just a matter of, you have to deal with the loads and sometimes they have to stay inside but he's fine." The 23-year-old has started Liverpool's last three matches since the international break, with the club taking precautions to avoid overloading him following a limited pre-season.
Szoboszlai's absence comes as little surprise after the midfielder suffered a recurrence of his hamstring problem during last weekend's 2-1 victory over Brentford. The Hungarian has resumed individual training but is not yet ready to rejoin the squad. Muñoz is also struggling with a knock sustained against Brentford. Despite completing that match and scoring Liverpool's equaliser, the Spaniard missed Tuesday's Champions League victory over Villarreal and remains unlikely to feature against Brighton.
There is better news in midfield, with Ryan Gravenberch available again after serving his one-match Premier League suspension. Liverpool's longer-term absentees, Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike and Giovanni Leoni, remain sidelined. Jeremie Frimpong is also unavailable after suffering a muscle injury against Brentford, with a return before November's international break considered unlikely.
Barcola's availability leaves Iraola with an interesting decision in attack, particularly following Rio Ngumoha's outstanding performance against Villarreal. The teenager produced two assists in Liverpool's 4-3 victory and was voted the club's Player of the Match by supporters. Cody Gakpo also returned to the starting line-up after his recent absence, giving the Liverpool manager several options ahead of Sunday's fixture.
Barcola, Liverpool's £106 million summer signing, has shown glimpses of his ability but has yet to consistently produce his best form in the Premier League. Against Brentford, he missed opportunities, struck the crossbar and played a part in Alexander Isak's winning goal. For me, Barcola hasn't played badly enough to be dropped. We're still waiting to see the best of him in the Premier League, and there have been encouraging signs.
Gakpo has been Liverpool's best wide player across the season in my opinion, but Ngumoha's display against Villarreal was comfortably the best individual performance from any Liverpool wide player so far. It would be harsh to leave him out after that. My preferred front three against Brighton would be Alexander Isak, Bradley Barcola and Rio Ngumoha, with Gakpo starting on the bench.
Liverpool face Brighton at Anfield on Sunday, 25 October, with kick-off at 2pm GMT.