Darwin Nunez is not part of Liverpool’s squad to face Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday evening as the striker was surprisingly left off the bench.

Arne Slot made ten changes to his starting lineup for the league game at Molineux, with Diogo Jota the only player left in the 5-1 win over West Ham in midweek.

Jota was always expected to start up front, having been eliminated midway through the second half in the Carabao Cup win.

But Nunez was on the verge of simply dropping out of the starting lineup when Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz returned to the slot attack.

Instead, the No.9 will be left out entirely, with Liverpool confirming his absence is due to illness.

That leaves Federico Chiesa and Cody Gakpo as the only attacking options for Slot on the bench, with Wataru Endo likely to have benefited from Nunez’s absence.

It is the first game Nunez has missed since the 3-0 win over Southampton in the fifth round of last season’s FA Cup. The Uruguayan was forced to sit out three games in February due to a muscle injury, including the Carabao Cup final.

Both the player and the head coach will be frustrated as the 25-year-old has shown promising signs in recent weeks.

This included a goal in the recent 3-0 win over Bournemouth in the league and then an assist for Gakpo in the 5-1 home win over West Ham, playing the full 90 minutes in that tie.

Jota operated as a number 10 against West Ham but will be the central striker against his former club, with Salah and Diaz deployed on the flanks.