Liverpool can move a giant step closer to winning a second Premier League title with victory over West Ham United on Sunday.
The Reds welcome 16th-placed West Ham to Anfield on 13 April boasting an 11-point lead over closest challengers Arsenal at the summit.
However, Arne Slot’s side were beaten 3-2 by Fulham at Craven Cottage last weekend and have lost three of their last four games in all competitions.
Slot will therefore demand a response when Liverpool take on West Ham in a game they are widely expected to win.
Liverpool without two players v West Ham
Slot has near enough a fully-fit squad to choose from at this late stage of the campaign, with Joe Gomes and Trent Alexander-Arnold the exceptions.
Alexander-Arnold is nursing an injury that should see him return to action in the coming weeks, but his return timeline is rather vague.
As for Gomez, Liverpool News has been exclusively told that the England international will also be back in full training before May.
That means Slot will be able to field a strong line-up against West Ham, which will almost certainly include Mohamed Salah in attack.
West Ham also missing players at Anfield
West Ham have endured a rather poor campaign thus far and are basically jostling for position in the lower-bottom half of the table.
Graham Potter has not really managed to push on since replacing Julen Lopetegui, and he will have to make do without Michail Antonio, Crysencio Summerville and Aaron Cresswell this weekend.
Antonio was involved in an horrific car accident in December and is unlikely to play again this season, while Summerville and Cresswell are also battling to be fit again this side of May.
That means five players will miss out in total at Anfield, although a few more may also be carrying knocks that will have to be monitored – West Ham striker Niclas Fullkrug among them.
Slot may be without Alexander-Arnold – and indeed Gomez – but this is a game in which the Reds will expect nothing less than all three points.
That will mean the title is very much in touching distance.
