Alisson will have now missed 56 games due to injury at Liverpool

Alisson has been ruled out for Liverpool’s trip to Chelsea after his injury in midweek, and his injury record is now to surpass 55 games missed for the club.

The Brazilian was quickly ruled out of Liverpool’s final game before the international break as Arne Slot explained “it’s never positive if you go off like this” after the defeat at Galatasaray.

Alisson and Liverpool will be crossing their fingers that the issue is not a serious one after two consecutive seasons of missing more than 10 matches due to injury or illness.

Thankfully, Liverpool have Giorgi Mamardashvili on hand to deputise, but the concern for Alisson is the constant nature of issues that keep him out of the XI.

The 32-year-old will bring up his 56th game missed for Liverpool since he arrived in 2018/19 on Saturday due to a combination of soft tissue injuries, concussions and illness.

Only in two seasons was Alisson consistently available (2018/19 and 2022/23), while in 2021/22 he missed a single match due to COVID, but the recent trend does not make for great reading.

When sidelined with another hamstring injury early last season, Slot spoke of how the club were looking to get to the bottom of Alisson‘s uncommon relationship with injuries.

“It’s a bit uncommon for goalkeepers,” Slot admitted last October. “For me, it’s common, because the goalkeeper I had at Feyenoord (Justin Bijlow) also had his issues with injuries and also muscle injuries.

“But that’s not what you see a lot, so these two are more an exception.

“We are looking into it, what could be the reason. One of the things we all know is if you had one then the chances of getting another one always go up.

“We’ve tried to be really careful with him.”

The Brazilian boasts the worst injury record among the Premier League‘s top goalkeepers, with Nick Pope the next closest with 44 games missed for Burnley and Newcastle combined.

It is worrisome how often Alisson succumbs to muscle injuries, with his number of games missed equivalent to missing the entirety of last season (56 games), but in Mamardashvili they have his successor.

Alisson is contracted until 2026 but the club have an option to extend his deal by a further year. It is expected to be a formality, but his unusual injury record will be factored into Slot’s plans.