Tottenham Hotspur welcome Liverpool to north London on Saturday night, as the Premier League witnesses one of its most exciting clashes of the season.
Arne Slot will hope to continue Liverpool's mini-revival following two wins on the bounce (against Inter Milan and Brighton), albeit without Mohamed Salah's presence, who has joined up with Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations. Spurs, meanwhile, followed their 3-0 win in the UEFA Champions League with a 3-0 loss away to Nottingham Forest.
Both clubs have had a rare week off to train, and with plenty of issues to solve on either side, it is anyone's guess who will come out on top in London.
Here's everything you need to know ahead of Saturday's game!
How to watch:
The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK, NBC Sports in the U.S., JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Date: Saturday, December 20 at 5:30 p.m. GMT (1:30 p.m. ET; 11 p.m. IST and 3:30 a.m. AEST, Sunday)
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Referee: John Brooks
VAR: Stuart Attwell
How will the absence of AFCON stars impact the game?
It was supposedly Mo Salah's final game in a Liverpool shirt when he came on against Brighton midway in the first half and provided an assist in a 2-0 win. Tensions with the club have dissipated since, and there are even reports that Salah could stay on with the club after his return from the Africa Cup of Nations.
Given Salah's much-publicised absence from the starting lineup in recent times, the Liverpool boss doesn't have to rejig his favoured XI. Yet, Salah represented a fearsome option from the bench, and his absence will further impact Liverpool's ability to be unpredictable with their style of play. Slot's complained since the start of the season about teams playing a certain way against them, and teams may figure out another solution for his new formation.
As for Spurs, Senegal midfielder Pape Sarr's departure won't truly affect Frank, as he only started one of Tottenham's last five games and is clearly not trusted by the Spurs boss. Given the club have been struck by multiple injuries all season, Frank might be loathe to lose another option in midfield, especially since Yves Bissouma will also feature for Mali.
Will injuries affect Slot's new formation?
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last five games, and a large portion of the credit goes to Arne Slot's rejigged 4-2-3-1 formation. Joe Gomez, who started at right-back, limped off against Brighton and is certain to miss this game, while Dominik Szoboszlai (who dropped to right-back after Salah came on) faces a late fitness test with an ankle problem. Conor Bradley's return from suspension ought to mean the right-back role ought to be his, but Slot faces a dilemma in his creative line behind the striker.
Salah would have slotted into the right-wing role had he been available, but Slot's options are limited -- a scenario compounded by Cody Gakpo's injury. Florian Wirtz looks most at home operating from the left in this formation, which might necessitate one of Federico Chiesa or Rio Ngumoha operating from the right. Slot could even revert to Wirtz playing centrally behind the striker, but that could disturb the way his current double pivot presses the ball in midfield.
There may be a temptation to revert to a three-man midfield behind three forwards, but that would be needlessly risky against a Spurs side that leaks goals anyway. Keeping the unbeaten run going will be crucial for Slot, and the less he disturbs a working system that has kept three clean sheets in that period, the better.
Will a loss earn Frank the sack?
A home fixture against Liverpool is hardly a gimme, but Thomas Frank will need to ensure that his side at least comes away with a point against the reigning Premier League champions. Spurs have replaced the gung-ho football of Ange Postecoglou with a circumspect version in Thomas Frank, but they've conceded 21 goals in 16 games anyway, despite Micky van den Ven's assertion that he prefers Frank's style of play.
Tottenham fans, who place quite the premium on attacking football, would have made do with Frank's safety-first approach if the results were coming their way. Spurs appeared to have turned a corner following their last-gasp draw against Newcastle, with wins over Brentford and Slavia Prague, only for the 3-0 hammering away to Forest smashing any semblance of positivity within the club.
Frank is teetering on the edge, but given he's had to deal with perhaps the lengthiest injury list of any PL manager since the start of the season, he ought to be afforded a bit of leeway. A couple of big results against teams like Liverpool would go a long way in ensuring he's backed in the January transfer window - which would prove crucial in him staying in the job.
Goal-fest incoming?
The last seven games between these two teams have yielded 36 goals at an average of 5.15 goals per game. Liverpool have scored 24 of those, but they went goalless in their last trip to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, a 0-1 loss in the EFL Cup.
While Spurs have scored a sizeable 25 PL goals this season, they have massively overperformed their xG (15.2), which is the amongst the lowest in the division (only Burnley, Wolves and Sunderland have accumulated lower totals through sixteen games). Meanwhile, Liverpool have the fifth-best xG conceded stats in the division, despite conceding 24 goals so far. For all the brickbats aimed at Virgil van Dijk and co., Slot's team has defended relatively well.
Should both teams revert to their xG averages, it points to Spurs finding it difficult to score, while Liverpool may find the net. With both managers feeling the pressure, we might not have the goal-fests of previous seasons.
How do you solve a problem like Isak?
Two goals, one assist in 15 appearances across all competitions. Those are awful numbers for the Premier League's most expensive signing of all time, and it's not like Alexander Isak can redeem himself by pointing to his underlying numbers - (his xG+xA of 2.10 is nowhere near the best in the squad).
The 'lack of a pre-season' argument has long flown out the window. While fit, the Swedish striker looks bereft of confidence and clearly needs to play to work himself into form. However, Slot's attempt at shoehorning both Isak and Hugo Ekitike into the same lineup came up with nothing against Inter Milan in the Champions League -- the pair made zero passes to each other.
Ekitike appears to be Slot's first choice at the moment, and with plenty to play for this season, the Dutch manager would be risking plenty if he takes the Frenchman out of the lineup against Spurs. However, Isak has scored 6 goals in five games against Tottenham in his career -- he's not scored more against any other opponent. Coupled with Spurs' poor form at home, this could represent the ideal opportunity for Isak to find form. If Liverpool are to win anything this season, Isak will need to get back to his fearsome best.