Liverpool’s season recommences when they make the trip to Southampton on Sunday.
Arne Slot will be hoping that all of his players who have been on international duty return to Merseyside unscathed. The Reds’ squad will reassemble later this week at the AXA Training Centre and a roll call will take place. Slot will assess his squad before facing basement side Southampton at St Mary’s.
Virgil van Dijk has headed home from Netherlands duty on ‘medical grounds’ according to manager Ronald Koeman and Liverpool confirmed the skipper will be ‘assessed’. Reports in Holland suggest that Van Dijk’s minutes are being carefully managed.
But Liverpool will have to wait and see whether Trent Alexander-Arnold has shaken off his hamstring issue suffered in the 2-0 win over Aston Villa that ruled him out of England duty. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen when Diogo Jota (ribs) will be back available along with Alisson Becker (hamstring), Harvey Elliott (fractured foot) and Federico Chiesa (muscle).
Liverpool will not be looking beyond Southampton although head coach Slot will not need reminding of the importance of the following two games. The Reds welcome Real Madrid to Anfield in the Champions League. It will be a meeting between Europe’s current top team and the European conquerors. Then Liverpool prepare to host Manchester City – a seismic encounter which could have seismic consequences on the Premier League title race.
The Reds are currently five points above Pep Guardiola’s champions – a gap no-one could have predicted before the start of the season. Should Liverpool prevail over City then there will be a chasm between the modern-day rivals. The Reds will be firm favourites to go on and claim their 20th English title and stop the Etihad Stadium side from winning five in a row. But should Guardiola get the better of Slot, a two-point deficit will be regarded as meagre.
Certainly, Slot will want as many players available for the showdown. He will not want to lose a key star in Alexis Mac Allister, who scored from the penalty spot in last season’s 1-1 draw. The Argentina international has continued to be a regular starter this campaign, making 17 appearances in all competitions.
Yet should Mac Allister be named in Liverpool’s team to face Southampton then he will be walking a disciplinary tightrope. The former Brighton & Hove Albion man has already picked up four yellow cards in the Premier League. Rules state that ‘players who receive a total of five yellow cards in their first 19 matches will be given a one-match suspension. It means that should Mac Allister be cautioned on the south coast then he will indeed have to serve a ban.
Meanwhile, Ibrahima Konate and Dominik Szoboszlai will also have to tread carefully for the upcoming period, with the pair collecting three cautious respectively. Slot is also one yellow card away from having to serve a touchline ban after being booked in a 2-1 win over Chelsea and 2-2 draw at Arsenal.
