Curtis Jones suffers injury scare during Liverpool friendly vs Real Betis

Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones was forced off with an injury during the first half of the pre-season friendly against Real Betis in Pittsburgh, with the Reds' number 17 being replaced by Trey Nyoni on the half-hour mark.

Having started the game well, the match was paused for a drinks break when Jones came across to the sidelines appearing to be pointing to his hamstring. Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring with an excellent finish just a couple of minutes later.

While it remains to be seen exactly what injury Jones has picked up and how long it might keep him out for, it would be a blow for him to miss any of pre-season. Only yesterday he was explaining just how much he was enjoying working with new head coach Arne Slot and there is plenty of competition for places in the center of the field.

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"I feel like my way of playing has always been a kid who wants to get on the ball and play, help the team and be comfortable on the ball," Jones told reporters Thursday. "I then came around a team who always had world-class lads out on the wing and up front, and I feel like the center-mids were always lads who were more like runners and more disciplined, I’d say.

"Of course, the principles are the same, but I feel like now the center-mid is going to be more like the heart of the team. Mo is always still going to get us goals and things like that, but in terms of our buildup and how comfortable on the ball and stuff, how calm we have to be and play more as a team, we’re not in a rush to attack.

"We kind of just want to have the ball and just break teams down, then of course that gives us a chance that, if we give the ball away, then we can go and press. I feel more in the past a bit it was like a rush, we get the ball back and it was a little bit too direct, I would say, and it was up and down, up and down. Now he wants us to have all the ball and completely kill teams."

Liverpool faces Arsenal next and then Manchester United . Both of those games are in the USA before the Reds return to Merseyside to face Sevilla at Anfield . The new Premier League season kicks off in three weeks with Slot's team set to travel to Ipswich Town on the opening weekend.