Bournemouth head into this one with Marco Rose still patching holes in a squad that has been stretched thin. The Cherries are without Eli Junior Kroupi, Julian Araujo, Amine Adli, Veljko Milosavljevic and Tyler Adams — that is not a rotation problem, that is a spine problem. Adams and Araujo are the kind of players who do the unglamorous work that lets Bournemouth press high and stay compact; without them, Rose's 4-2-3-1 loses its bite in the middle third. Recent games have shown a Bournemouth side that can still scrap at the Vitality, but the margin for error is razor-thin. They are not shipping goals in bunches, but they are not controlling matches either.

Liverpool, by contrast, arrive with the cavalry back. Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Florian Wirtz are all expected to be recalled, and that trio transforms the visitors from a good side into a ruthless one. Van Dijk organises the back line, Alisson erases the odd defensive lapse, and Wirtz is the lock-picker between the lines. Liverpool's recent form has been steady rather than spectacular, but the underlying numbers — chance creation, expected goals, territorial control — point to a team that is one clinical afternoon away from a statement result. The away form is solid, and the squad depth means the midweek workload is not a factor.