Aston Villa will be without leading source of goals Emi Buendia among four absentees for their trip to Liverpool, while Harvey Elliott is unavailable due to the terms of his loan.
Buendia is currently Villa’s top goalscorer, tied with John McGinn on three each, while two assists makes him their most frequent source of goals overall.
His absent will be felt on Saturday night then, with head coach Unai Emery confirming in his pre-match press conference that the Argentine is unavailable.
Emery will also be without Elliott, who is ineligible to face his parent club having joined Villa on deadline day in an initial loan deal.
The 22-year-old has already found himself out of favour under Emery – having played only four minutes from five possible games in October and been left out of the squad completely last time out – but could have benefited from Buendia’s absence.
Villa are still missing right-back Andres Garcia along with midfielder Youri Tielemans, the latter of whom scored in the 2-2 draw at Anfield last season.
It means Emery will have fewer options to rotate in his midfield, including the No. 10 position given it is a natural role for all three of Buendia, Elliott and Tielemans.
Morgan Rogers is the most likely starter in Buendia’s absence, with Jadon Sancho likely to come into the side on the left wing and one of John McGinn or Evann Guessand will start on the right.
Emi Martinez, full-backs Lucas Digne and Matty Cash, centre-back Ezri Konsa and striker Ollie Watkins are almost certain to start while Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana are likely to be retained in midfield if McGinn starts out wide.
Emery expected to stick with his strongest XI
That leaves Emery to decide on Konsa’s centre-back partner – most likely Pau Torres – and whether to throw in a curveball with the likes of Donyell Malen and Ross Barkley rotated in at times this season.
Predicted Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Onana; McGinn, Rogers, Sancho; Watkins
Liverpool meanwhile are without Alexander Isak, Curtis Jones, Jeremie Frimpong, Giovanni Leoni and Alisson, with Arne Slot expected to make at least 10 changes from the 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace in midweek.
The only player likely to keep his place is Andy Robertson, with Slot having started both of his left-backs in the Carabao Cup but bringing off the vice-captain with 67 minutes gone while Milos Kerkez played the full 90.
Villa could benefit from a five-day gap between fixtures having not been involved in the Carabao Cup fourth round.
