Alexander Isak simply cannot catch a break.

The most expensive player in Premier League history is still waiting to make more than three consecutive top-flight starts for Liverpool following his $166.6 million (£125 million) move over the summer. Isak’s desperately unsuccessful battle against his own body took another negative twist on Friday night when he failed to make the matchday roster for the trip to Aston Villa.

Isak had only just come back from the treatment room against Chelsea last weekend after a “really small” injury sidelined him for the defeat to Manchester United on May 3. Liverpool’s No. 9 came on for the final 20 minutes of a limp 1–1 draw with the Blues on Saturday.…