Liverpool travel to Italy to take on Serie A giants AC Milan in their Champions League curtain-raiser at San Siro Stadium.
After crashing out of last season’s Europa League in the quarter-finals following an aggregate 3-1 defeat against Atalanta, Liverpool will be eager to make a deeper run in Europe this time around.
Their chances of starting the Champions League campaign with a win have been significantly boosted by their clean bill of health.
The only player Arne Slot will not be able to call upon is academy graduate Harvey Elliott, who is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after fracturing his foot.
However, Liverpool have the quality to put Milan to the sword even without their 21-year-old prodigy.
Slot will likely start the Champions League clash with the same back five from the shocking 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest, but the Dutchman could shake things up in the middle of the park.
Alexis Mac Allister picked up a knock while on international duty with Argentina but was fit enough to play for an hour against Forest.
However, he could be handed a breather against Milan, with Wataru Endo poised to anchor the midfield alongside Ryan Gravenberch.
Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez failed to impact the game in the final third after coming off the bench on Saturday, but they could be named in the starting line-up at San Siro ahead of Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota.
Slot will certainly consider ringing the changes with a little over 72 hours between the Champions League contest and this weekend’s home game against Bournemouth.
Summer signing Federico Chiesa has been building up his fitness, and Slot confirmed the Italian could make his debut in his homeland. But the manager has already ruled out a start.
Predicted Liverpool line-up vs AC Milan
(4-2-3-1): Alisson; Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahim Konate, Trent Alexander-Arnold; Wataru Endo, Ryan Gravenberch; Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah; Darwin Nunez.
