Jeremy Jacquet injury leaves Liverpool weighing up cover

Jérémy Jacquet is a doubt for Liverpool's trip to Manchester City after missing France's 4-1 win over Belgium in France vs Belgium with a strain to his left hamstring. The federation's wording was limited to that strain, while France manager Zinedine Zidane called him “slightly injured”. Liverpool's problem is less the label on the injury than the timing, because they are already managing a defender who has been asked to do plenty.

Liverpool's cover options

Jacquet has logged 732 minutes in nine games for club and country, and he has started all six of Liverpool's Premier League and Champions League matches. He also came on at half-time in the League Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur. That workload is why a small hamstring issue is awkward now, even if there is no talk of anything more serious.

The obvious question is whether Ronald Araujo stays at right-back or moves inside. He has started three Premier League games there and Liverpool have not conceded in those starts. Joe Gomez is the other route, after returning from injury in the League Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur last month. Liverpool said in February that Jacquet would join in an initial £55m deal from Stade Rennes at the end of the season, so this is also a reminder that the club are protecting a player they still have not fully integrated.

The load before Manchester City

Liverpool face nine games in 28 days before the November international break, and Manchester City are next on 2026-10-11. The club have only 31 Premier League minutes from Jacquet this season, with just 2 league appearances, which is another reason not to push him through a minor setback.

The safer move is to treat this as a selection problem rather than a crisis. If Jacquet misses out at the Etihad, Liverpool already have two clean paths in front of them, with Araujo inside or Gomez stepping in for a back line that has little recovery time before the next run of fixtures.