Arne Slot delivers Florian Wirtz injury update after seeing Liverpool star hobble out of warm-up before dramatic win at Nottingham Forest

When Liverpool named their team for their clash with Forest at the City Ground, Wirtz was included, but after the warm-ups, he was replaced by Curtis Jones. The Reds went on to win the game 1-0, thanks to Alexis Mac Allister's injury-time winner. After the game, manager Slot was naturally asked to provide an update on the fitness of the summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen.

He told reporters: "We don't think it is very serious, but he felt his back too much during the warm-up to start.

"He wasn't able to be 100 per cent or even close to 100 per cent. I think after being in this league for six, seven or eight months, he now understands no matter how good you are on the ball, you need to be 100 per cent at this level.

"So, we decided not to play him. We hope and expect he will be able to be with us again next week but you never know how things work out."

Mac Allister's injury-time winner was made all the more remarkable by the fact that he had a goal ruled out barely five minutes before, but he dusted himself down to net the winner. Nevertheless, he insists he and his side must improve if they are to push into the top four; they currently sit sixth, behind fourth-placed Chelsea on goal difference, though Manchester United could move three points clear if they beat Everton on Monday evening. 

Mac Allister said: "Mixed feelings to be honest. I love scoring, I love winning, so in that sense I think it's a really good day.

"But on the other hand, I don't think we played very well. There's plenty of things we need to improve, but it's always nicer when you win."

Asked about the impact of his disallowed goal, he added: "I thought I was going to get another one even before the throw-in.

"I told Hugo [Ekitike] that this was going to be our goal and our situation. I don't know if it was in that one or the next one, but I had another opportunity and I'm glad that it went in."

He continued: "We need to analyse [the game] during the week but the first half wasn't good at all. Positioning, intensity, pressing - nothing was good. Well, maybe how we defended our box, because we blocked some shots.

"But it was not good and it was not our standards. In the second half, I wouldn't say it was good, but it was a little bit better. We had some chances and the most important thing is that we won the game."

Slot made sure to tell his players that Liverpool had endured their worst half under his management when they headed in at the interval in Nottingham.

He added: "It was the worst first half that we’ve played. But we defended our box really well, and that was the reason that we were still nil-nil. As much as Forest were the better team and were forcing us to go back, we defended really well in our box, in my opinion. We had to defend lots of set-pieces throughout the whole game, especially in the first half, so if we could bring that mentality to the whole pitch, combined with doing a few things better on the ball and maybe not lose every ball you touch, because that was almost what happened, then you know that these players can do better.

"I tried to give them a bit of energy to say, ‘Yeah, they’ve played Thursday, difficult away game, maybe they run out of energy, and we, for sure, cannot have run out of energy yet’. So maybe that can balance the game more, or get the game in our advantage. I pointed out our second half against [Manchester] City as well, that we are able, after a first half that was maybe not of the standards we would like, to play much better [in the] second."

Liverpool face West Ham on Saturday as they attempt to climb into the top four. Slot's men will travel to rock-bottom Wolves five days later, before another trip to Molineux in the fifth round of the FA Cup on March 6.