In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast correspondent Tom Ward, former footballer and current pundit Carlton Palmer has been discussing the latest injury blow at Liverpool.

The Reds have endured an injury-hit season thus far, with first-choice centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez both currently sidelined, whilst the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson, Joel Matip and Fabinho have all missed a lot of games.

Despite this, Jurgen Klopp's side are still challenging at the top of the table, and have the chance to go top if they can beat current leaders Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately, the Merseyside club will be without Diogo Jota, after the Portuguese forward picked up an injury in the recent 1-1 draw against FC Midtjylland. Klopp confirmed on Sunday that the summer addition will be out for 6-8 weeks, which is undoubtedly a blow when you consider how impressive he has been since joining in the summer, with nine Liverpool goals to his name already.

Here's what Palmer had to say about the latest injury setback when speaking exclusively to Football FanCast...

"It's a massive blow. I mean, they've got six or seven key players out with long-term injuries and that's a problem. You know you're going to pick up injuries and you know players are going to be out for a certain amount of time but they've got key players out with long-term injuries which is a massive problem.

"They've spent heavily on Jota, they've spent £45 million on him, so that is a blow in itself for them."

Palmer certainly seems to think that the injury to Jota is a big blow for Klopp's side, especially when you consider the number of first-team players currently out injured.

Fortunately for the Reds, they still have a world-class attacking trio in Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, so they will definitely still be able to cause Jose Mourinho's side problems on Wednesday, despite Jota being missing.

It has been suggested that the former Wolves man could be out until February, so considering the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino have struggled to perform at times this season, perhaps we will see the Merseyside club bring in a replacement for Jota during the upcoming January transfer window.

And, in other news... LFC handed huge transfer blow in pursuit of 20 y/o "gem" likened to Kai Havertz...