If Arne Slot rested his big guns on Wednesday to get them as fully prepared as possible for the visit from Aston Villa, then the game-plan for Saturday's fixture has had more time than usual of late to be formulated. The Liverpool head coach gave nights off to the likes Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Florian Wirtz for the fourth-round tie with Crystal Palace as 10 changes were made in total for a squad that didn't contain a first-team player on the bench.

It was crystal clear when the team sheet dropped at Anfield on Wednesday that this weekend's assignment was being viewed as the most important and that was understandable following a sequence of four successive Premier League losses for the champions.

Some have suggested that the meek surrender to the Eagles has increased the pressure on an embattled Slot, but progress to the fifth round of the least important of the four competitions Liverpool are in would offer no...