Liverpool know going into their meeting with Manchester City at the Etihad that they’re unlikely to breach the top four if they don’t manage to fix their away form – and quickly.
That’s a prospect easier said than done, of course, when facing one of the most in-form sides in the country (not to mention one battling to retain their league title) with only 12 Premier League games left to go.
A win here, if manageable, however, would represent a potentially season-defining corner turned as we look to beat Newcastle, Tottenham and Brighton to a Champions League spot.
Starting ahead of Alisson Becker in goal, it seems more than likely that a centre-back partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate will be selected by Jurgen Klopp.
The midfield will undergo some surgery in light of Stefan Bajcetic’s injury, with Jordan Henderson and Harvey Elliott potentially set to return to the starting-XI.
Having been available in training (and sending teammates into a frenzy with a slick nutmeg on Ben Doak), we could see Arthur Melo making a return to the bench.
Assuming that there have been no further injury concerns to have arisen, a forward line consisting of Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah should start against the Sky Blues.
EOTK’s predicted XI: Alisson, Robertson, Van Dijk, Konate, Trent, Fabinho, Henderson, Elliott, Nunez, Gakpo, Salah