Virgil van Dijk Likely to Miss January Matches Due to Hamstring Injury

When Virgil van Dijk had to be taken off at the half against Brentford on Monday following a first half where Liverpool’s star defender at times appeared to be struggling physically, the suspicion was injury and the hope was that it would turn out to be minor.

Manager Jürgen Klopp confirmed as much following the match, saying that Van Dijk “felt a little bit the muscle and said it is fine” but that he didn’t want to take any risks and so chose to remove him. However, further tests confirmed damage to his hamstring.

As a result, the expectation now is that Van Dijk will miss around a month of football, likely ruling him out for important Premier League games against Brighton, Chelsea, and Wolves as well as the Reds’ upcoming FA Cup Third Round tie against Wolves.

If he is sidelined for the expected period, Everton on February 13th might be his most likely return date. Elsewhere on the injury front, Roberto Firmino and James Milner are expected back imminently while Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz remain longer-term absences.