It is do-or-die time in the Champions League on Tuesday night as nothing less than a win against Napoli will do for Liverpool.
After watching a Mohamed Salah hat-trick against Bournemouth and their side ascend to the top of the Premier League, Reds fans will be wondering just how it has come to this.
The long and short of it is their away form has been dismal – losing all three group-stage games on the road for the first time – so it’s just as well that their last chance comes at fortress Anfield.
Below, we take a look at some of the key players who could swing it either way.
Mohamed Salah v Dries Mertens
42 goals in 52 games for Liverpool. Hats off to Salah 🎩 pic.twitter.com/OY8PSX7Oos
— Sport360° (@Sport360) December 8, 2018
Second-season syndrome? Please. Salah has taken the most attempts (57) in the Premier League this season, so it was only a matter of time before he reapplied some polish to those shooting boots.
The Egyptian instilled sheer terror in the Bournemouth defence on the way to his hat-trick in a display that not only reasserted his world-class status but justified why Jurgen Klopp is so intent on playing him through the middle.
So dreadful was he in Naples that he played as if the ball was a foreign object. However, he was deployed on the right in that last-gasp defeat and surely Klopp won’t tinker with his freshly tweaked winning formula of 4-2-3-1.
He has only started through the centre once in the Champions League this term – scoring twice against Red Star.
While Salah, fit-again Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino roll off the tongue and onto the scoresheet, Napoli’s attacking starters are a little less clear.
Arkadiusz Milik started in the Napoli win at the expense of Dries Mertens and scored twice at the weekend against Frosinone, though his Belgian team-mate may just have been rested.
Mertens has in fact been used sparingly by Carlo Ancelotti throughout this season so far – perhaps with his World Cup exertions in mind.
The 31-year-old has been no less effective, either assisting or scoring every 76 minutes in Serie A, but his rapacious work ethic from the front will be just as valuable come kick-off given Napoli need only a draw.
Naby Keita v Allan
Applying a swat to a swarming Liverpool is no mean feat but Allan did exactly that in what we described as a monster performance at the Stadio San Paolo back in October.
Operating in Napoli’s two-man midfield alongside this season’s more conservative Marek Hamsik, the Brazilian has combined grit with grace. Against Liverpool he completed 95 per cent of his passes and, at a clip of 5.4 per game, no man has made more successful tackles in the Champions League this year. Whatever he’s chasing after at Anfield it’s unlikely to be shadows.
Naby Keita only lasted 19 minutes on that miserable night for the Reds in Napoli because of injury, and for the remainder they were in dire need of a man with pep in his step like the Guinean.
For a man who whose all-round skills suggested he had an ultra-high floor for success it’s been a rather slow start under Klopp, though a series of niggles has not helped.
His two starts since, albeit against rather average fare in Burnley and Bournemouth, have been promising and his effervescence could be key in breaking down Napoli’s two rigid banks of four.
Joel Matip v Kalidou Koulibaly
Virgil van Dijk established himself as the Sheriff of Anfield as soon as he stepped foot on the turf but every lawman needs his deputy – and he’s lost a great one in Joe Gomez.
The pair were by far the outstanding performance on an out-of-sorts Liverpool away day in Naples. Without either of them there’s no question Napoli would have scored sooner than the final five minutes.
With Gomez injured for at least six weeks, Matip must exude the same sense of calmness that he did in his early days at Liverpool before injuries railroaded his progression. He’s not going into the game cold, having paired up with Van Dijk for Burnley and Bournemouth, but did at times look ponderous in the latter despite what was on paper a comfortable 4-0 win. Now the pressure is on.
The rumour mill would have you believe that Napoli will be commanding an even bigger fee than the £75m man Van Dijk for Kouibaly, with Manchester United desperate to add defensive reinforcements.
The Senegalese certainly qualified from the same defensive arts school as Van Dijk and has a tried-and-tested tandem going with the less mobile Raul Albiol.
He will, however, have to cope with Salah bolting through the middle rather than Firmino, whose threat was almost casually blunted in Naples.
Few defences can stop Liverpool in full flow but Koulibaly is like few defenders.
