While Pep Guardiola's claim that Liverpool has not suffered from injuries at all this season is simply not true — and even if it was, it would not be entirely down to good fortune — Arne Slot has done a good job of keeping his roster as fresh as possible.
Liverpool has established a healthy lead in the Premier League table, has already reached the Carabao Cup final, and could yet win the Champions League too. And by giving himself some breathing room in the league, one leading injury expert believes that Slot might have engineered himself an advantage in Europe.
"What Liverpool have done now is put themselves in a position where they can maybe not take their foot off the gas, but certainly be able to manage the squad even more around the Champions League knockout games," Ben Dinnery from Premier Injuries tells Liverpool.com.
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"All of these things are coming together and hopefully for Liverpool supporters, that's going to reap the rewards. Just from a very basic standing, if you play more games, the chances of you picking up more injuries increases. That comes with European football and we have seen that with teams outside of the big six with squads not big enough to handle it.
"The data is there to support the fact that once you are in European competition, you get more injuries. On average, it is around 10 extra injuries per season."
Slot said last week that when he first arrived, he was unsure how easily Liverpool would get back into the groove of playing in the Champions League alongside the more difficult European calendar again. The Reds played in the Europa League under Jurgen Klopp, but rarely fielded a team strong enough to risk key men being jaded.
"It's not quite as heavy metal or basketball football as well," Dinnery said. "Slot is a bit more conservative in his approach and the physicality of the Premier League, if you slightly dial down the intensity, that will minimize the number of muscle problems.
"If you have more injuries and your squad becomes more stretched, you lose that continuity and flow. But really, it will depend on the club and the positions.
"When Virgil van Dijk did his ACL, Liverpool had a really good injury record in the grand scheme. But then Joel Matip was out, Joe Gomez was out, and Jordan Henderson was playing at center-back.
"Pep Guardiola was probably alluding to the loss of Rodri in terms of how much it disrupted his team. But you need to look at squads and depth and who is able to come in.
"For the past four, five, six weeks, Bournemouth have had seven, eight, nine players out, but they are still going out and getting results. It is about who the players are and what back-up there is in those positions."
Will Liverpool's relatively good record with injuries continue? That will depend on many factors and might require some further tinkering to the roster in the summer.
"All you can do it put the right protocols in place to try and manage the squad but there are no guarantees," Dinnery, who was speaking on behalf of BetIdeas, continued. "Football is a contact sport and you are going to pick up injuries.
"It is not just down to Slot. It will come down to his staff and his recruitment team, and also the players themselves in terms of how they manage themselves away from the club, on and off the pitch."
