Liverpool boss Arne Slot revealed that he “fears the worst” for Conor Bradley after the defender suffered a knee injury in their draw with Arsenal.

Bradley was stretchered off in second-half stoppage time on Thursday after landing awkwardly on his left knee when challenging Gabriel Martinelli for a loose ball.

The 22-year-old has made just 15 Premier League appearances this season after overcoming a hamstring and muscle injury earlier in the campaign.

He also struggled with those two injuries last season, while suffering from an ankle and back problem during the 2023-24 campaign.

There was a scuffle shortly after the injury when Martinelli tried to push Bradley off the pitch so that play could continue.

Slot believes Bradley could be sidelined for the foreseeable future.

“I fear the worst for Conor Bradley,” Slot told Sky Sports.

“I think if a player of us is on the floor, people might know by now 100 out of 100 times there's something wrong with the player. You don't like to see a player being moved if he might have an injury.”

However, in his post-match press conference, Slot defended Martinelli.

He said: “I don't know Martinelli, but he comes across as a nice guy.

“I think the problem for him – and it's a problem in general in football – is that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending that they are injured in the final parts of the game and during the game, that you can sometimes be annoyed if you want to try to score a goal that you think the player is time-wasting.

“You cannot ask Martinelli to think so clearly in the 94th minute.”

Roy Keane and Gary Neville, however, had different opinions on the actions of Martinelli.

Neville said on Sky Sports: “You can't push him off the pitch! You cannot do that. That is so poor. I think an apology is needed.

“Bradley is being stretchered off. I'm fuming with Martinelli to be honest. Disgraceful.”

And Keane added: “It's not good. We know football, the player is a good lad.

“Throwing the ball at him, standing over him and getting a little knee on him. He tries to force him off.

“That behaviour is an absolute disgrace. He's a good boy to roll over himself. Hopefully, Martinelli will have a look at it and hopefully, he'll apologise for it. Not good stuff that.”

While holding Arsenal out at the other end, Liverpool failed to land a shot on target in a Premier League match for the first time since March 2010 versus Wigan Athletic.

Slot was not surprised, however, due to the Reds' previous struggles against defensive sides.

“I've said 150 times already that against certain playing styles, we're a very good team, and against certain playing styles we struggle,” he told Sky Sports.

“Maybe you could even see that today, although people are now positive we kept the ball so long, but even against the low block of Arsenal we struggled to create chances.

“So that is something we would like to do better. That's one of the reasons we're so many points behind them.”