'What we're hearing': Sky journalist says two Liverpool players were missing from team training yesterday

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Liverpool are back in Premier League action on Saturday as they face another away day.

The Reds have been excellent on the road this season and remain unbeaten at the halfway point of the season.

After picking up what could be a valuable point on Tuesday at Nottingham Forest, a visit to the Gtech Community Stadium to take on Brentford arrives this weekend.

Liverpool could really do with a win, having allowed Arsenal to cut their lead at the top of the Premier League table to just four points.

Thankfully – and somewhat unexpectedly at this stage of the campaign – the Liverpool squad which travels to West London will be relatively full. Injuries are not much of a factor just now.

Nevertheless, as the Reds stepped out at the AXA Training Centre on Thursday, Sky Sports journalist Vinny O’Connor still noticed that two players were missing.

Joe Gomez and Diogo Jota miss training

Although Arne Slot has faced some small criticisms for not rotating enough at times this season, the Liverpool injury record speaks for itself.

Slot and the Liverpool coaching staff have managed things superbly well.

Still, injuries are a part of the game, and the one player who is suffering with a slightly long-term problem at the moment is Joe Gomez. Speaking to Sky on Thursday afternoon, it was not a surprise to hear O’Connor report that Gomez was not out on the pitches.

“Joe Gomez still not out there, still not ready to join in with the group as he recovers from injury,” said the reporter. “Still not training with the team.”

READ MORE: Diogo Jota surpasses landmark of Liverpool legend with Nottingham Forest display

A little more ominously, O’Connor also claimed that Tuesday night’s goal scorer Diogo Jota was also missing from full team training.

“What we’re hearing is that Jota is inside doing individual work at the moment,” he reported. “I don’t think too much of a surprise given they’ve been very careful with him after his injury issues this season.”

Is Diogo Jota fit to face Brentford?

Despite O’Connor’s claims that Jota’s absence on Thursday was not necessarily a surprise, we’d still be slightly worried about this latest development.

Of course, players do training individually at times, and it is true that Slot has been careful with Jota since his return from injury.

Having said that, the 28-year-old has been back fit for over one month now. He only played for 25 minutes at Forest and it feels slightly odd that he’d be held back at this stage.

Given the close proximity of the Brentford game, it would feel a little unlikely that Jota will be ready to start if he’s still not in full training on Friday.

Slot will no doubt give an update during his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, but until then this is a slight concern.