Back-to-back 1-0 wins for Liverpool represent what would appear to be a genuine turnaround in form for Jurgen Klopp’s men ahead of the World Cup.
That could all quickly unravel, of course, should performance levels drop for the remaining four league games in the Reds’ calendar before those with international commitments depart for Qatar.
A meeting with the bottom-of-the-table side in Nottingham Forest awaits; a challenge that looks, on paper, to be comparatively less hurdle-filled than contests with Manchester City and West Ham United.
Alisson Becker will be the man chosen between the sticks behind a centre-back partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez.
The German tactician is likely to rotate his options some more in the middle of the park with Thiago Alcantara having started our last four league ties and we can see Curtis Jones being given the nod alongside Fabinho.
Mo Salah and Fabio Carvalho should retain their places on the flanks with an in-form Bobby Firmino supporting the increasingly impressive Darwin Nunez.
EOTK’s XI: Alisson, Tsimikas, Van Dijk, Gomez, Alexander-Arnold, Jones, Fabinho, Carvalho, Salah, Firmino, Nunez
#Ep58 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: Rating Liverpool’s UCL group, making a new signing… & more!