Liverpool has been ravaged by injury problems all season long but still remains the leading contender for the Premier League title. And Jürgen Klopp's side will be without as many as eight players as it bids to beat Sheffield United and regain top spot.
On Wednesday, Arsenal beat Luton Town 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium and Manchester City overcame a much-changed Aston Villa side by four goals to one. Now, it is the turn of Liverpool to avoid any surprises with Chris Wilder's struggling outfit coming to Anfield.
Wataru Endō, Klopp confirmed on Wednesday, has a knock that could make him a doubt. He and Darwin Núñez are two bookings away from a two-match suspension and need to get through the next three league fixtures without getting two yellows to reach the cut-off date of matchday 32.
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Elsewhere, Thiago Alcântara and Joël Matip are long-term absentees and may not play again this season. Both are out of contract at the end of the campaign. Stefan Bajčetić has been training with the U21s this week as he bids to regain fitness after a long spell on the sidelines. He will rejoin the first team group next week.
Diogo Jota, Alisson Becker and Trent Alexander-Arnold could all return to parts of team training next week and are edging closer to a comeback. Ben Doak has had surgery on a knee injury and it remains to be seen what sort of timeline Liverpool is looking at for a return for its young winger.
But it is better news for Curtis Jones and Andy Robertson, who could both make their returns to action. Jones has been missing since going off against Brentford in mid-February while Robertson picked up an ankle knock while playing for Scotland. At the time, that looked like it might have kept him out for longer but Klopp confirmed on Wednesday that his left-back is fit again.
Liverpool.com says: Ahead of the final nine matches of the season, Liverpool will need as many players as possible fit and ready to play a big part in proceedings. It needs to be the case that the Reds are able to field as strong a side as possible with so many important games to come.
Klopp's men will take on Atalanta next week in the Europa League and travel to Manchester United on Sunday. The matches will continue to come thick and fast with two big competitions there to be won.
