The Marc Guehi regret that could plague Liverpool’s season | OneFootball

Liverpool’s season so far has been defined by good fortune in the final 10 minutes. Late winners may remain ever-present for now, but there are signs that their luck is beginning to run out.

Giovanni Leoni, their gargantuan 18-year-old Italian centre-back, is out for about a year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, one suffered 80 minutes into what was a near-impeccable debut in the Carabao Cup. “He is not in a good place of course because he tore his ACL so he will be out for around a year,” Slot said. “Being so young, coming to a new country, playing so well in your first game, it is very hard to take a positive - there is no positive but he is still so young, has so many years to go after he recovers from a terrible injury like that.”

It’s a desperately unfortunate setback for the player, whose assured first appearance showcased his very high ceiling and swiftly justified the hype that surrounded him. It also leaves Liverpool in a serious predicament with nearly all of the season to play.

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Giovanni Leoni will be out for “around a year” after tearing his ACL (Getty Images)

Arne Slot’s arsenal now holds just three senior centre-backs: Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez. This doesn’t include the likes of midfielders Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch, who have stood in as makeshift centre-backs before. Slot says this isn’t such a bad thing, stating that he prefers to work with smaller squads. “That’s the choice we make because I believe that every player needs to have perspective of development or playing time,” he said. “If I every time have to say that, on a day like today, I have to disappoint four or five players, I believe that is not the right energy that you want to have in the building.” He still concedes that such an approach has its dangers. “On the other hand, that means if you get one injury, you don't have two replacements anymore, so you don't have two players for every position anymore. That’s the risk you take.”

Leoni was nevertheless brought in to replace last season’s fourth-choice centre back Jarell Quansah, who was sold to Bayer Leverkusen in the summer. But of course, there should’ve been a fifth - and on Saturday afternoon, they’ll face a pertinent reminder of “what could’ve been”.

Marc Guehi would’ve had 27 September down in his calendar as a return to his old stomping grounds when he was wrapping up his Liverpool medical on the afternoon of deadline day. Crystal Palace’s inability to find replacement - namely Igor, who ditched his own medical at Selhurst Park to move to West Ham - saw that transfer collapse. There was vast speculation that the way events unfolded had infuriated Guehi, with talk that the England international would release a tell-all statement - Alexander Isak-esque - in the days that followed.

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Marc Guehi has rebelled against Crystal Palace since his failed move to Liverpool (PA Wire)

Such a statement never came. In line with his impeccable summer behaviour, Guehi has epitomised professionalism as he returned to work with Palace, still with the captain’s armband. And as he welcomes Liverpool to SE25, acting in hindrance rather than as an asset, it’s the visitors who look the real losers of the saga.

Slot was unwilling to go into depth about a player who is not his own. “I don’t think one day before we play them to talk about that again,” he said. “He is a Crystal Palace player and has been very important for them as long as he was there.”

But in preparation for the trip, Liverpool could have done with a bit of Guehi’s insider knowledge on the Eagles. Oliver Glasner’s side are the only team yet to foil the Reds this season, coming from behind twice to nip them to the Community Shield on penalties. It was a deserving victory, with Palace’s all-action attack making Van Dijk and Konate look unusually amateur - a rude awakening in the season curtain-raiser.

Liverpool, while unconvincing, have since gone undefeated in 2025/26. As have Palace. They’re the only two Premier League sides with a zero in the L column, albeit one has three more wins than the other. That should be expected given the near £400m difference in summer expenditure. Yet despite the gulf in wealth, Palace are rightly being treated as one of the biggest threats to Liverpool’s winning beginning.

The reigning champions have been dependent on their goalscoring exploits this season due to defensive frailty. They’ve thrown away leads in five of their first seven - most recently against Southampton in midweek - and they’ve required late winners in six of their first seven - again, most recently against Southampton in midweek. Their need for last-gasp heroics is very much a thing of the present. Glasner’s defence, shepherded by skipper Guehi, does not let goals in easily, however. They’ve conceded just two in the Premier League this term, joint with Arsenal as the top flight’s best defence.

This is something Liverpool know all too well. “They have an enormous discipline defensively. We saw this in the Community Shield,” Slot said. While a fast start and a freak Jeremie Frimpong cross saw them bag two at Wembley in August, Palace’s defensive impenetrability after the break was key to their eventual penalties defeat, as was Liverpool’s comparative second-half vulnerability which opened the door for the Eagles to draw level. “They have some individual quality, some individual players who are a big threat offensively,” the Dutchman added.

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Palace's defensive impenetrability was key to their Community Shield win over Liverpool (Getty Images)

This time, their mission to break Palace down will be made even harder. The absence of Hugo Ekitike thanks to his needless red card against the Saints means the Reds are without their most in-form attacker, while £125m man Isak is still not ready to play a full game. “I don't think it's smart to play him (for) 90 yet,” Slot asserted.

But had Liverpool snatched Guehi on deadline day, removing a central cog of Palace’s system and providing further depth in quality into their own, the problems of the Community Shield may have already been alleviated prior to kick-off at Selhurst Park. Instead, the same pitfalls remain and Liverpool will likely need to rely on a standout performance of the campaign thus far, rather than Arne time, to maintain their 100 percent start.