It's almost here. Liverpool will host Manchester City on Sunday in a Premier League contest of staggering proportions, with Jurgen Klopp's side currently one point ahead of the defending champions, who lead third-placed Arsenal by a single point themselves.
Despite recent success, Liverpool have been plagued by a spate of injuries that have left the squad looking rather threadbare, and while several key stars have returned to action recently, many still languish on the sidelines.
One player to have returned to action relatively recently is Andy Robertson, who has long been the star left-back of Klopp's team but was ruled out for four months after suffering a shoulder injury on international duty with Scotland back in October.
How Andy Robertson has performed since injury
Kostas Tsimikas and the impressive makeshift left-back Joe Gomez have filled in for Robertson in recent months and while he has now started four matches since making his competitive comeback in January, it would be fair to say that the 29-year-old is still somewhat out of sorts.
Playing the full 90 during Liverpool's 5-1 demolition over Sparta Prague on Thursday evening, Robertson completed 95% of his passes and took more touches than any other player on the pitch with 115, as per Sofascore.
But while he kept it crisp, the £100k-per-week ace missed with all three of his crosses, failed to attempt a single dribble, and created just one key pass all evening; for all his action, he didn't actually do much, also squandering a glorious chance to score and being caught out for some attempts on goal from the hosts, who were thwarted by the impressive Caoimhin Kelleher.
With Gomez proving himself to be a reliable option all season, Klopp might be convinced to take the bold decision to move his long-time stalwart to the bench on Sunday, with an erudite thinker such as Pep Guardiola sure to look to capitalise on any possible chinks in the Anfield armour.
On that note, the Liverpool boss might also be inclined to ditch Harvey Elliott from the starting line-up, and that is despite the 20-year-old's remarkable performances of late and convincing display once again in the Czech Republic.
Why Harvey Elliott must be dropped vs Manchester City
Elliott has been amazing over recent weeks, avoiding any fitness setbacks while his peers drop like flies to consistently start and succeed for Klopp's team, with his two assists against Sparta Prague taking him up to five direct contributions since the turn of the calendar year.
As per FBref, the creative midfielder ranks among the top 1% of positional peers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for shots taken, the top 3% for assists, the top 7% for shot-creating actions, the top 6% for progressive passes and the top 3% for progressive carries per 90.
Minutes played
90'
Assists
2
Touches
58
Accurate passes
45/47 (96%)
Key passes
3
Duels won
2/8
Tackles
0
Interceptions
1
Dribbled past
4x
Handed an 8/10 match rating on Thursday by This Is Anfield's Joanna Durkan after his noteworthy effort, the correspondent noted that: 'Having played the most minutes of any Red over the previous four games, Elliott was back for more in Prague and still full of energy in his fifth successive start.
Tidied up loose balls nicely for the most part, and notched one of the easiest assists he’ll get in his career by laying the pass off to Nunez.'
However, given that Elliott succeeded with just two of his eight contested ground duels, failed to make a single tackle, and was actually dribbled past on four occasions, he's hardly demonstrated the roundedness that will be so important against Manchester City, unrelenting and unforgiving.
Rodri is a workhorse charged with a limitless supply of energy; Bernardo Silva is silky-smooth and will weave and dance and prance past Elliott, who will need to ramp up his defensive game and then some. Kevin De Bruyne… well, no formula seems to work against his brilliance and it's hard to imagine Elliott holds the key, given his struggles out of possession.
With Endo anchoring the midfield, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister must form a strong Liverpool engine room, and while Elliott will hope for a starting berth, he must be relegated to the bench for this one.
