A night of rotation at Fleetwood Town ended in a Carabao Cup exit on penalties, a red card for Max Dowman and a growing injury board. By the time Mikel Arteta reaches Merseyside on Sunday afternoon, he could be without five senior players and a sixth through suspension.

Declan Rice, Riccardo Calafiori and Noni Madueke all sat out the Fleetwood tie after picking up knocks against Everton. Arteta described Calafiori’s problem as “a slight issue, we don’t know what it is, it seems to be something very small”, in a pre-match injury update reported by Yahoo Sports this week.

Rice was substituted after 80 minutes against Everton with a hamstring concern, and Arteta said the midfielder “finished with a problem the other day”. All three are listed as racing to be fit for Anfield.

Saka and Saliba join a growing absence list

Bukayo Saka remains out with the quad injury sustained against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, with his return now unlikely before December. William Saliba has not played this season after back surgery and has only just resumed grass work; his comeback is still weeks away.

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Christos Tzolis, out with a hamstring injury since international duty, could be available after a three-week absence. Dowman is suspended after a straight red card at Fleetwood.

Iraola, not Slot, in the home dugout

The man who meets Arteta in the tunnel is Andoni Iraola, Arne Slot’s replacement after Liverpool parted ways with the Dutchman at the end of May. The Spaniard inherited a side fresh off a fifth-place finish and started slowly at home, including a 0-3 defeat to Manchester City on 11 October, before stringing together wins over Brentford, Villarreal in the Champions League and Brighton.

Iraola’s own Anfield history is awkward. He took Bournemouth to Anfield three times between 2023 and 2025 without a win, and told BeIN Sports earlier this month that Liverpool had so far done better on the road than at home.

“It is true that we have had better results away than at home, but it is just the beginning,” he said.

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21 vs 15, with six points on the line

Manchester City and Arsenal both sit on 21 points from eight matches, with Arsenal second only on goal difference. Liverpool are fourth on 15, six adrift of the leaders. A home win would cut that gap in half; defeat for the Gunners would hand the early initiative at the top to City before the two meet at the Emirates on 29 November.

Kick-off at Anfield is at 4:30pm local time on Sunday 1 November.

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