Except for the Merseyside derby, the Liverpool powers-that-be could arguably not have wished for a more enticing battle to break their spectator record – especially if recent results against Manchester United are any indication – and Jurgen Klopp’s side heads into Sunday’s momentous occasion atop the Premier League perch.

Klopp and 12.30 pm kickoffs aren’t a match made in heaven, and the midday misery looked set to continue when Jean-Philippe Mateta put Crystal Palace ahead from the spot last weekend, but Mohamed Salah’s 200th Reds goal and a fine Harvey Elliott winner saw Liverpool complete another trademark comeback.

With Arsenal losing to Aston Villa later in the day, Liverpool enters gameweek 17 with a one-point lead over the Gunners and a two-point lead over the Lions – both of whom play at 2 pm – so the Reds could be relegated to third place by the time the first whistle blows at Anfield.

An experimental XI made up of fringe and academy players lost 2-1 to Union SG in the Europa League on Thursday, but that result paled into insignificance with a last-16 place already secured, and a seven-game Premier League winning streak at home makes for incredibly pleasant reading for the Liverpool faithful, whose side has also scored at least twice in all of those triumphs.

Taking a page from Liverpool’s aggressive playbook might be beneficial for their under-performing guests, who also suffered a one-goal European setback in midweek, although a far more depressing one in that they were eliminated from the continental discussion altogether.

Even a win over Bayern Munich on the final day of Champions League Group A would have been rendered insignificant by Copenhagen’s thrashing of Galatasaray, but Erik ten Hag’s men fell short of Europa League redemption, succumbing to a Kingsley Coman strike to finish bottom of the pile.

With no European football scheduled for the first half of 2024, Ten Hag will have plenty of time to turn around his side’s dreadful domestic fortunes, which were met with a cacophony of boos from disgruntled fans in last weekend’s humiliating 3-0 Old Trafford loss to Bournemouth.

As a result, Manchester United enter the weekend five places and ten points behind Liverpool in the Premier League rankings, and the Red Devils have gone over two years without winning away against a team in the top eight of the table; the last such victory came in October 2021, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer masterminded a 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

A penny for both Solskjaer and Ten Hag’s thoughts as Man United were blown to smithereens at Anfield in March, as Liverpool thrashed the Red Devils 7-0 – the visitors’ heaviest Premier League defeat ever – and not since 2016 have Man United left Anfield with a Premier League win to brag about.

While a few senior Liverpool players, including Mohamed Salah, Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, were left off the travel list for Belgium to rest, Klopp still has a sextet of injury victims out of contention for Sunday’s game.

Joel Matip (ACL), Stefan Bajcetic (calf), Andrew Robertson (shoulder), and Thiago Alcantara (hip) are all expected to return at different points in 2024, while Diogo Jota’s muscular problem will keep him out for a few weeks longer, and Alexis Mac Allister’s nasty knee injury will keep him out against the Red Devils.

Salah’s deflected effort at Selhurst Park not only gave him a double-century in Liverpool colors, but it also marked his 150th Premier League goal. His 12 goals against Man United are his most against a single opponent in his illustrious career.

One little triumph for the Reds in midweek was that no more players were sent to the hospital, which is more than can be said for Manchester United, who lost defense pair Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw in the first half of their loss to Bayern with groin and hamstring injuries, respectively.

Ten Hag expects Shaw and Marcus Rashford, who has been ill, to be available, but Maguire is confirmed to be out, along with Anthony Martial (illness), Mason Mount (calf), Jadon Sancho (club suspension), Amad Diallo (knee), Christian Eriksen (knee), Lisandro Martinez (foot), Casemiro (thigh), and Tyrell Malacia (knee), with Victor Lindelof (knock) questionable.

With Fernandes suspended and Mount still in the hospital, either Kobbie Mainoo or Hannibal Mejbri should fill the vacuum in the park’s center, unless Ten Hag surprises everyone by bringing Donny van de Beek back in from the cold.

Liverpool’s potential starting lineup is as follows: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Szoboszlai, Endo, Gravenberch; Salah, Nunez, Diaz.

Manchester United’s potential starting lineup is as follows: Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Evans, Varane, Shaw; McTominay, Amrabat, Mainoo; Antony, Hojlund, Rashford.