Gakpo's Fitness in Question Ahead of Arbeloa's Return to Anfield
Andoni Iraola is braced for another anxious wait on Cody Gakpo as Liverpool prepare to welcome a familiar face back to Anfield in Alvaro Arbeloa.
The Dutch forward missed Wednesday night’s win over Atletico Madrid with what Iraola called “adductor issues”, and his prospects of facing Arbeloa’s Fulham remain uncertain on the eve of the game.
Gakpo a doubt, Barcola ready
Liverpool’s head coach made it clear he will push Gakpo as far as he dares in Friday’s final session.
“[With] Cody, we will see. He didn’t train yesterday,” Iraola said at his pre-match press conference. “Today, we will try with him and let’s see if he’s ready for tomorrow or we need to wait for the next one.”
Gakpo’s absence against Atletico forced a reshuffle in attack, but the night also delivered a positive: the full debut of Bradley Barcola. The winger was withdrawn in the second half, sparking fears of another setback. Those were quickly eased.
“Yes, Barcola was just cramps,” Iraola explained. “Obviously he finished tight in the game and then we have to evaluate with how are things today – but there’s no injury. He should be available if everything goes normal.”
That will come as a relief after Barcola impressed in the 2-1 victory, starting on the right of an attacking trio behind Alexander Isak and giving Liverpool a different dimension with his direct running.
Defensive reinforcements on the horizon
There is quieter, but significant, encouragement at the back. Joe Gomez is edging towards involvement again after a muscle problem sustained in pre-season. His return would add experience and versatility to a back line that has already been asked to adapt in the opening weeks.
Federico Chiesa is also still working his way back from injury, part of a rehabilitation process Iraola is reluctant to rush given the Italian’s importance in the final third.
Some absences, though, will stretch deep into the season. Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike and Giovanni Leoni remain long-term casualties, with Ekitike’s situation particularly delicate after a ruptured Achilles tendon.
“I think it’s difficult with these long-term injuries, I think he’s still far [away],” Iraola admitted. Yet there is a glimmer of optimism buried inside the caution.
“We had a meeting with the medical department to analyse when we completed the [squad] list for the European games. There is a reasonable chance that he could help us in the last two games of the group stages.
“But it’s still very early to say. It’s very early because it’s a long-term injury [and] a big part of the rehab [he] is still to meet. But if we decide to put him there, it is because there is a hope and there is a realistic chance that he could help us in January.”
For now, Iraola must navigate a demanding schedule without him, leaning heavily on Virgil van Dijk’s authority and the energy of a midfield built around Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.
Arbeloa’s emotional return
On the opposite bench, Arbeloa walks back into a stadium that once roared his name. The Spaniard made 98 appearances for Liverpool between 2007 and 2009, part of a side that regularly tested Europe’s elite. This time, he arrives as a Premier League head coach still hunting his first point with Fulham.
“It will be so special,” he said. “I went back when I was a Real Madrid player but now it’s my first time as a coach. Anfield will always be a special place for me.
“We have a massive game for us and we have been working really hard this week. We know that we have to improve and we need to adjust some parts of our game.”
Fulham come into the contest on the back of a 3-2 home defeat to Crystal Palace, a match that exposed both their attacking promise and defensive fragility. Leno, Castagne, Andersen, Bassey and Robinson formed the back five that day, but it was the balance ahead of them that slipped as Palace found too much space.
Arbeloa’s team news is at least straightforward. Tom Cairney, out with a knee injury, is set to be his only absentee for the trip to Merseyside.
“We have to wait until the last training session,” he said. “But just Tom [is currently out injured] and we will see after the training session if everyone is ready.”
With Joao Palhinha gone and a new structure still bedding in, the Fulham manager must find a way to steady a side that has already shown it can score, but not yet that it can control.
Anfield expects
Liverpool’s last outing at Anfield, that 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid on September 9, underlined both their resilience and their raw edges. Alisson, Ronald Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk and Milos Kerkez formed the defensive unit, with Szoboszlai and Mac Allister pulling strings behind an inventive line of Barcola, Florian Wirtz and Ngumoha, supporting Isak.
There was fluency, but also fatigue. The cramps that caught up with Barcola were a reminder of the physical toll Iraola’s high-intensity style demands.
Now comes a different kind of test. Not a European heavyweight, but a wounded Fulham side coached by a man who knows exactly what Anfield can do when it senses vulnerability or opportunity.
If Gakpo passes his late fitness test, Liverpool gain another weapon between the lines. If he does not, the responsibility will again fall on Wirtz, Barcola and Isak to provide the cutting edge. Either way, the expectation inside the stadium will be the same.
Arbeloa returns to a place that helped shape his career, desperate to ignite his new one. Iraola, still moulding his Liverpool, needs to show that Wednesday’s win was a platform, not a one-off.
On nights like this at Anfield, sentiment rarely survives the first whistle.
