Arne Slot provides injury update on unfortunate Joe Gomez | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has confirmed that Joe Gomez asked to be taken off against Plymouth Argyle because he feared that "things will go wrong" were he to try and continue.

The 27-year-old captained a heavily-rotated Liverpool team against an Argyle side who prop up the Championship table after winning just five of their 30 matches.

But he lasted just ten minutes of a game Liverpool would go on to lose 1-0, courtesy of Ryan Hardie's penalty following handball from midfielder Harvey Elliott.

Gomez has only just returned to action after suffering a hamstring injury in the 5-0 win over West Ham United at the end of December, and Slot confirmed after the game that he was not yet sure if the versatile defender had suffered a reoccurrence of the same problem.

"I am not too sure. I am not too sure if it was the same leg, but I haven't had time to ask him," Slot told reporters. "It was clear, I think we all know which moment he felt a bit insecure about [it] because he didn't sprint back fully.

Gomez needed consoling by his Liverpool teammates / Dan Mullan/GettyImages

"Then he said, 'I am not 100 per cent sure and I am afraid if I make one extra sprint things will go wrong.'

"It's not torn I assume, but it didn't feel good for him. That was a bit of a blow because Curtis Jones was on the bench, but he came to me this morning and said, 'I don't think I am fully recovered yet' as well after the training session of yesterday.

"That all of a sudden led to the fact we were with a few more youngsters on the pitch than was the idea before the game, but still there was enough quality on the pitch to get a better result than this."

Slot opted to rest Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate for the trip to Home Park, with the duo not even on the bench for the current Premier League leaders. As such, Gomez made way for young full-back Isaac Mabaya when he came off – the youngster then sacrificed in the second half as Liverpool attempted to get back into the tie.