Liverpool vs. West Ham
Venue: Anfield Stadium
Kick off: 4PM
Liverpool return to action this afternoon following a 10-day gap between games, aiming to make it five without a defeat in all competitions when they play host to West Ham United.
The Reds have been in good form over the past few months, losing just two of their last 24 in all competitions, and find themselves two points off second place in the Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp has used the prolonged break since thrashing Porto 5-0 to his advantage by taking the Liverpool squad to Marbella for a short warm-weather training camp, used to get each player up to full speed heading into the business end of the campaign.
Not that the likes of forward trio Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane require any fine tuning, of course, having each registered in that memorable Champions League last-16 tie in Portugal to continue their impressive campaigns.
The emphatic nature of the Reds’ display in that most recent outing, becoming the first English side to net five times away from home in a knockout tie, means that they are effectively already in the hat for the quarter-finals and have the luxury of rotating in the second leg.
Klopp’s record against West Ham may be improving, but opposite number David Moyes remains without a win at Anfield in 14 attempts during spells with Everton, Man United and Sunderland.
The Scotsman has certainly helped to stabilise things at the London Stadium since being appointed in November, however, thanks to the accumulation of 20 points across the last 12 games in the Premier League.
Two defeats during that run, stretching back to the start of December, ensures that West Ham are much closer to the top half than the bottom three.
United will point to the form of Marko Arnautovic as a key factor behind their resurgence over the past few months, while fellow summer signing Javier Hernandez has also finally found his feet after failing to push through a mid-season exit.
Hernandez has scored three goals and assisted another in his last four Premier League outings, and also boasts a couple of goals at Anfield during his time with arch-rivals Man United – what he would give for one more this weekend.
Liverpool Possible XI: Karius; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Henderson, Can; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
West Ham Possible XI: Adrian; Fonte, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Zabaleta, Kouyate, Noble, Antonio; Joao Mario, Hernandez, Arnautovic.