Now is the time for masterplan to click into gear

IF Arne Slot rested his big guns on Wednesday to get them as fully prepared as possible for the visit of Aston Villa, then the game-plan for tonight's fixture has had more time than usual of late to be formulated.

- By PAUL GORST

The Liverpool head coach gave nights off to the likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Florian Wirtz for the fourth-round tie with Crystal Palace as 10 changes were made, with a bench that didn’t contain a first-team player.

It was crystal clear when the team sheet dropped at Anfield on Wednesday that this weekend's assignment was viewed as the most important, understandable following a sequence of four successive Premier League losses.