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Luis Diaz injury: Worst Liverpool fears averted after bittersweet update on return date; every match he’ll miss detailed

Liverpool forward Luis Diaz

Liverpool will be without Luis Diaz until after the World Cup, though the Colombian will not have to undergo surgery on a knee injury sustained against Arsenal.

Diaz, 25, has been one of just a handful of bright sparks at Anfield this season. While the majority of those around him have suffered startling dips in form, the former FC Porto ace has arguably upped his levels from last season.

As such, heads were in hands on Sunday afternoon when Diaz had to be replaced prior to half time at the Emirates.

An innocuous collision with Thomas Partey resulted in Diaz have a pained look on his face. Jurgen Klopp’s initial assessment post-match was the injury did not look good.

Diaz was sent for a scan on Monday and Liverpool have learned they’ll be without their winger for up to eight weeks.

The Athletic’s James Pearce claimed Diaz will miss ‘six to eight’ weeks of action. The Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle cited the eight week figure.

Both the BBC and Independent confirmed the news, though thankfully for Diaz, he won’t have to undergo surgery.

Knee injuries can often come with extremely lengthy lay-offs, especially if the injury is to the anterior cruciate ligament.

Goal reported Diaz’s injury is ligament-related, though did not specify which.

In any case, the fact surgery isn’t required and the lay-off is less than two months suggests the end result isn’t as bad as Liverpool may have feared.

Which games will Luis Diaz miss?

Given the fixture congestion the mid-season World Cup has caused, Liverpool play twice a week every week until the Qatar tournament kicks off in late-November.

In that time, Diaz will miss 10 Reds matches in total – six in the Premier League, three in the Champions League and one in the EFL Cup.

The full list of matches Diaz won’t be available for are as follows:

October 12 (UCL) – Rangers (a)

October 16 (EPL) – Man City (h)

October 19 (EPL) – West Ham (h)

October 22 (EPL) – Nottingham Forest (a)

October 26 (UCL) – Ajax (a)

October 29 (EPL) – Leeds Utd (h)

November 1 (UCL) – Napoli (h)

November 6 (EPL) – Tottenham (a)

November 9 (Carabao Cup) – Derby County (h)

November 12 (EPL) – Southampton (h)

Liverpool’s first match post-World Cup is against Aston Villa in the league. Diaz will be targeting that game at Villa Park on Boxing Day.

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