Liverpool

Liverpool manager Arne Slot was asked how difficult it is to solve current problems with ongoing injury issues: "Just handling the situation as it is. Let me use Alex [Isak] as an example. He had to do a pre-season inside the season and then people will argue, why do you play him? But if I don't play him, I don't have him available and we need to have him available or then we have to play Hugo [Ekitike] every single game.

"I was with Owen Hargreaves when he made the comparison between the two of them and he showed that both of them - one played 34 games last season and the other played 34 and we play 60 over here. That is why I need to get Alex as soon as I can into playing as many games as he can. That has been something not only him but with a few others as well.

"Jeremie Frimpong has been in and out with injuries quite a few times, same with Conor Bradley so if one is out the other has to play more and that is why I've had to play Dominik Szoboszlai a few times in that position.

"That has been something what every team has, so it is not an excuse, but what was a bit different than last season. Last season, they all had one year Premier League experience as a minimum, they were all fit when we started and they stayed fit. Now, they weren't all fit from the start and some players have to play more than you want them to do and that is a risk of them getting injured as well.

"That is just the situation as it is and we have more than enough good players available to play the game on Saturday, Tuesday and Sunday but I have to take care of them an that's why I made the decision to not play some a few days ago."

Image source, Getty Images

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe on the return of Lewis Hall to first-team training: "He is very close. He hasn't trained with us yet so hopefully he will be training with us today for the first time. We will see how he looks. I think he has worked really hard. He has looked after himself and looks in really good shape. But then we have to reintroduce himself back into the squad at the right time."

Any new injuries?: "I don't think there is anything new. We are still managing Will Osula's ankle problem. We will see how he is today, but apart from that I think we are as we were."

Image source, Getty Images

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe started his news conference with reaction to their EFL Cup quarter-final draw at home to Fulham: "We asked for a home tie so that was gratefully received. Tough game. Having just played against Fulham that makes it a very interesting one for us. It was a very narrow victory. Every game against a Premier League team is very difficult. We look forward to it when it comes round, but we are pleased to be at home."

Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has confirmed no injured players are likely to return to the squad to face Leeds on Saturday.

Kaoru Mitoma could be back before the international break.

19-year-old Tom Watson is "an option" to start this weekend.

Arne Slot has just finished his news conference and we will have his remaining quotes shortly.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe and Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler have also been speaking to the press this morning.

Liverpool

Liverpool manager Arne Slot on whether he is currently in contract negotiations with the club: "This is the last question that I was expecting.

"My focus is completley on getting Liverpool back to winning ways. That is my first answer and my second answer, contract talks, if they are even there, we never speak about this here.

"Let us first start to win again, that is my main focus."

Image source, Getty Images

Liverpool

Liverpool manager Arne Slot on his comments on squad depth and what he feels he is missing: "We miss nothing. I am happy that you asked this question because I am completely happy with the team and with all the quality that we have and I am also completley convinced by the strategy and the policy that we have but that makes the issue - if you call it an issue - is not all of them have had a proper pre-season or have been injured.

"When three or four are injured you go back to 16 players. I am a firm believer that 20 or 21 player is enough but you have to keep them fit as we did last season. We are struggling a bit more to keep them fit, in my opinion, for obvious reasons. Alex [Isak] is a great example of this. A few others have missed out on pre-season or had injuries during pre-season. It has been more difficult than last season to keep them all available and the if a few of them are not available, it comes down a lot to the same players. Maybe last season we were more lucky and now we are more unlucky.

"But, no excuses for our results before people say this. We have had to play a lot of away games with only two days rest in-between and that would have been difficult for our players last season and players that have been fit all pre-season but that has not been our situation. It is nothing to do with the squad depth, it is how we've gone throughout the season in terms of injuries and availability."

Liverpool

Liverpool manager Arne Slot on team news: "Ryan [Gravenberch] trained with us yesterday. The other two [Alexander Isak and Curtis Jones] didn't yet.

"In the end phase of the injury, things can slow down a bit or things can go faster but Ryan trained with us yesterday and he will train with us today and then we will make the call whether he is able to start.

"The other two are 99.9% sure not in the squad on Saturday."

Liverpool

If Liverpool and Arne Slot were looking for some respite from their recent losing run then the next three matches before the November international break may not offer too much comfort:

• 01 Nov: Aston Villa (h)
• 04 Nov: Real Madrid (h - Champions League)
• 09 Nov: Manchester City (a)

Ask Me Anything

Another weekend of Premier League action is coming up - and you can keep tabs on all of the games across the BBC.

You can catch highlights from every game on Match of the Day, all the talking points on Football Focus and all the goals as they go in on Final Score.

Listen wherever you are by tuning in on BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sounds app for users in the United Kingdom.

Live text commentary will also cover all of the weekend's action.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Big squad or not, Liverpool spent a whole lot on it in the summer and it's a conversation that keeps cropping up.

The Reds' summer transfer window was the largest spending spree in European football history - £415m spent on recruiting a stellar collection of talent.

The previous record was the £400m spent by Chelsea in summer 2023 - and Liverpool would have spent £35m more had a deal for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi not collapsed as the window closed.

By the time 1 September came around, Liverpool had broken the previous British transfer record - potentially twice. They signed Germany midfielder Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for an initial £100m, rising to a possible £116m.

They then blew that out of the water by landing Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak for £125m, which the Magpies say could jump to £130m with add-ons.

Liverpool's other big-money incomings were £69m striker Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt, full-backs Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen and Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth for a combined £70m, along with Italian teenage defender Giovanni Leoni from Parma for £26m plus add-ons.

It is worth noting that Liverpool did recoup a large amount of their expenditure. The sales of the likes of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Jarell Quansah, Caoiminh Kelleher and Ben Gannon-Doak, recouping in the region of £210m in all.

Liverpool

Liverpool started the season with seven consecutive victories in all competitions but have since lost six of their next seven matches:

• 27 Sep: Crystal Palace 2-1 Liverpool
• 30 Sep: Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool (Champions League)
• 04 Oct: Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
• 19 Oct: Liverpool 1-2 Man Utd
• 22 Oct: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-5 Liverpool (Champions League)
• 25 Oct: Brentford 3-2 Liverpool
• 29 Oct: Liverpool 0-3 Crystal Palace (EFL Cup)

Liverpool

Liverpool manager Arne Slot selected a youthful squad for the midweek EFL Cup defeat to Crystal Palace.

Here's a reminder of the reasoning he gave in his post-match news conference:

Slot on his young line-up: "I saw [Manchester] City's line-up and I don't think they had one starter from the weekend but it felt as if - if you look at their line-up - that they had played with their 11 starters.

"Maybe that gives a little bit of an insight that everybody has always said how big of a squad we have. When we played Chelsea I said they are missing eight but they can still bring Estevao in.

"We are only missing four players at the moment and already we needed to start with four players under the age of 19. After I made two substitutions we were on six."

He added: "I've seen the struggles some players have had in pre-season. It's a new challenge to play in the Premier League and Champions League, three games in seven days.

"Our squad is probably not as big as people think it is. There has not been a change in the way we look at this."

Right, back to the upcoming news conferences and specifically Liverpool as Arne Slot is one of the managers we will hear first from this morning.

You can watch both Ruben Amorim and Sean Dyche's views on those comments above.

Image source, Telegraph

A hat-trick of Manchester United back page stories as they also feature there in the Telegraph.

There is the similar line to others on Ruben Amorim being financially backed, but they also feature a story where Amorim's says that Sean Dyche was correct when he stated Manchester United would win more games with him in charge playing 4-4-2.

Read more here., external

Image source, Star

Manchester United and Ruben Amorim also feature prominently on the back page of the Star.

The newspaper reports that the club's director of football Jason Wilcox has revealed Manchester United have 'a clear plan' to invest further in Amorim's playing squad and claimed now is not the time to be satisfied.

Read more here., external

Image source, Guardian

Manchester United feature on the back page of the Guardian.

They reflect on Ruben Amorim's first year at Manchester United, after he was appointed on 1 November 2024.

You can read more here., external

Right, before the news conferences come up let's have a glance at some of today's newspaper back pages.

Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock says "only time will tell" whether Arne Slot's decision to rest key players in the Carabao Cup defeat by Crystal Palace was the right one.

Slot named three teenagers in his starting line-up and a further five among his substitutes as he made 10 changes from the team beaten 3-2 at Brentford on Saturday.

"If they beat Aston Villa and Real Madrid and start to turn a corner then yes it was the right choice," said Warnock on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. "If they don't and things continue, then Liverpool fans will get a little bit disgruntled and start to ask questions about why so many changes.

"Slot said before the game they rotate in this competition, but when you need a victory, this felt like the ideal time to try to get it.

"I'm not sure this will affect them too much but it keeps the pressure on Slot. There will be so many more questions asked of him. He will hope the performance on Saturday justifies what he has done for this game.

"Confidence is huge in football and Liverpool players are second guessing everything that they do.

"Slot has got to turn things around very quickly but it is not all on the manager. The players have to do more.

"His job as manager is to inspire the players and give them a gameplan they can follow through."