Liverpool welcome Manchester United to Anfield this weekend sweating on the fitness of Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch.
The Premier League champions have been shifted off top spot after two defeats on the bounce to Crystal Palace and Chelsea – coming either side of another loss away to Galatasaray in the Champions League.
Arsenal are top of the pile as domestic football returns this weekend and could be four points clear at the summit by the time Arne Slot’s side kick-off on Sunday.
United have not won at Anfield since 2016 but with Liverpool’s form deserting them and injuries to key personnel, they might just fancy their chances.
Alisson Becker will not be involved this weekend as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury he picked up away in Turkey. The Brazil international is not expected to return to action until after the final international break of the year in November.
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Konate, replaced in the second-half against Chelsea, joined up with the France squad but was not involved last Friday in the 3-0 win over Azerbaijan. He returned to Merseyside the following day with what the French Football Federation described as a quadriceps issue.
Gravenberch meanwhile managed 45 minutes for Netherlands in the victory over Finland with Ronald Koeman later confirming he had been struggling with a hamstring issue.
Slot will provide a further update on the pair when he speaks to the press on Friday morning.
United meanwhile have a relatively clean bill of health with Lisandro Martinez their only absentee. The Argentina international, who scored in this fixture last season, is nearing the end of his recovery from an ACL injury suffered in February.
Noussair Mazraoui meanwhile missed United’s last two games heading into the international break but could be available again this weekend.
Bruno Fernandes was absent from training on Thursday but reports suggests the skipper was handed an extra day off following games for Portugal during the international break.
Liverpool XI to face Man Utd – Metro prediction
Slot will be hoping Konate and Gravenberch have had enough time to shake off the issues picked up on international duty.
Man Utd XI to face Liverpool – Metro prediction
Casemiro dropped out of the starting XI against Manchester City following the September international break. Having played the full 90 minutes for Brazil games against South Korea and Japan over the last week, history could repeat itself and hand Manuel Ugarte a starting opportunity on Merseyside.
Liverpool vs Manchester United TV channel and kick-off time
Liverpool vs Man Utd takes place on Sunday 19 October with kick-off scheduled for 4:30pm.
You can watch the match live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event with streaming also available through the Sky Go app and NOW TV for subscribers.
You can also follow all the action with Metro’s LIVE blog.