Liverpool’s Conor Bradley out for the season with knee injury requiring surgery | OneFootball

Defender Conor Bradley is set to undergo surgery on a serious knee injury, which will rule him out of the rest of Liverpool’s season.

While the Northern Ireland international has not sustained an ACL injury, the bone and ligaments in his left knee have been damaged.

The right-back was carried off late in Thursday’s goalless draw at Premier League leaders Arsenal after landing awkwardly in stoppage time.

Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli was roundly criticised for dropping the ball on Bradley as he lay injured and shoving him in an attempt to get him off the pitch, with his actions sparking a melee between both sets of players.

Martinelli, who was shown a yellow card for the incident, later apologised on social media for his actions.

Bradley will have an operation in the coming days, which will rule him out of the remainder of the domestic campaign. He will also face a race to recover in time for this summer’s World Cup, should Northern Ireland qualify through the play-offs.

Liverpool said Bradley had “sustained a significant knee injury”, adding in a statement: “No timeframe is being placed on his return to playing at this stage of the process.”

Bradley had made 21 appearances this season, having missed several matches with a hamstring problem.

The setback leaves head coach Arne Slot with Jeremie Frimpong, who has had his own injury problems since joining from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, and Joe Gomez, himself only just returning from a hamstring issue, as cover, but neither can be considered a genuine right-back.

Slot has had to utilise midfielders Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones in the position this season.

The first game of Bradley’s absence will be Monday’s FA Cup third-round tie at home to League One Barnsley and Slot says he will not repeat the selection mistakes of his chastening experience in the competition last season.