Andoni Iraola Reveals Striker Headache With Isak, Gakpo Injury Update

Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo are “both injured” as Liverpool prepare to return to Premier League action this weekend with a pointed game against Manchester City at Anfield.

Manager Andoni Iraola has not ruled either player out of contention, but each man is a doubt and this is potentially the price of the September-October international window for the Reds. Center back Jérémy Jacquet is also coming back to Merseyside with an injury.

Liverpool are still finding their way under the guidance of Iraola, a step away from Arne Slot and back towards a more ‘Jürgen Klopp’ style of soccer. The Reds remain unbeaten across all competitions seven games into the new era, yet have drawn the majority of their league fixtures.

Isak and Gakpo are two players who have carried the flag in the opening weeks of the season. The Swedish striker has netted four goals in the Premier League, already better than his tally from his entire 2025–26, while the Dutchman has overcome his own disappointing form and immense personal strife to perform with impressive consistency so far in 2026–27.

Both returned early from international duty.

“Alex Isak and Cody Gakpo both have had to leave the national teams with injuries. Now it’s a matter of if they are going to recover in time to help us in the next game or not,” Iraola told beIN SPORTS in the days leading up to hosting Manchester City.

“Right now, they are both injured,” the Spaniard concluded.

Crucially, there is time for that to change, but it also doesn’t offer much confidence that either at this stage can be considered more than a doubt to play.

Isak was seen with a bloody toe after scoring in Sweden’s Sept. 25 win over Romania, before pulling out of the squad. But it wasn’t the toe that was the cause of the problem, with manager Graham Potter putting the decision down to a minor thigh issue. “Given the number of matches we have in a short period, it’s not feasible [to keep him in the squad],” Potter said.

Gakpo started for the Netherlands against Germany and Serbia in September, scoring a late equalizer against the former. But he lasted only 17 minutes in the match with the latter because of an ankle concern and had to be withdrawn.

How Do Liverpool Replace Isak, Gakpo?

Iraola has a headache if Isak is ruled out because Liverpool don’t have another true No. 9 in the first-team squad. Hugo Ekitiké remains sidelined with the Achilles injury he suffered in April and cost him his place at the 2026 World Cup. Gakpo would ordinarily be a sound option to step in at center forward were he too not also potentially going to miss the match.

In the only game so far this season that Isak hasn’t started—the Carabao Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sept. 15—Iraola used Lewis Koumas in the No. 9 role.

Koumas, although not a stranger to playing centrally, has seen most of his minutes for Liverpool and loan clubs Hull City, Birmingham City and Stoke City over the past two years in wide positions—particularly the left. It would be a huge ask of the 21-year-old to start up front against a Manchester City side in red-hot form, even with the shadow of the Premier League verdict.

Koumas did replace Isak for the final few minutes against Bournemouth.

Liverpool’s only other striker is academy graduate Jayden Danns, who is nursing a suspected hamstring injury. The locally born 20-year-old, who would alleviate any danger of the Reds losing a piece of club history in the wake of Curtis Jones’s summer exit, was on the bench for the Champions League win over Atlético Madrid, but his last first-team appearance was more than a year ago in the Carabao Cup against Southampton in September 2025.

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