Mo Salah and Sadio Mane could return for Liverpool against Burnley in a must-win game at both ends of the table on Sunday.

Liverpool are nine points behind leaders Manchester City with one game in hand, meaning any mistake would end any hopes Liverpool have of a title challenge.

Burnley are at the other end of the table sitting bottom.

They are four points off safety but have games in hand on teams around them.

Mane - pic by Mehdi Bolourian, creative commons licence
Sadio Mane celebrating – pic by Mehdi Bolourian, creative commons licence

Injuries

Jurgen Klopp, on Mane, said today: “It looks like he will be available, we have to find out so Sadio will come now for training and then we will make a decision on how he feels.”

And on Jordan Henderson, he added: “Yes, Hendo definitely will be back, that was the plan before the game.”

This means Klopp has nearly his full squad available as Salah returned off the bench against Leicester in their comfortable 2-0 win last night.

Divock Origi and Joe Gomez are also fit.

Matej Vydra (hernia) and Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson (appendicitis) are likely to miss out on this fixture for Burnley as they are expected to be out for a significant period.

Maxwell Cornet picked up a knock against Manchester United but could be in contention alongside Charlie Taylor who missed the last three games.

Ashley Barnes came off the bench against Manchester United meaning he could be in contention to start.

Recent Fixtures

Burnley’s record in this fixture is poor, winning one home game in the last seven attempts back in 2016.

Liverpool will be expecting their good record to continue, as, in the last 15 fixtures, Liverpool have won 11.

The home side has won one game so far this season, with 11 draws. But they have only lost twice at home.

Burnley will be hoping to build on their recent form of three draws in a row, but they will need to start winning games if they are to survive.

However, Burnley has not won a game since 30th October, and have not won a game on xG since then.

Their xGA is a respectable 10th but only Norwich have a worst attack as they have scored 17 goals from 19.11xG.

However, Liverpool have the best attack in the league scoring 58 goals from 56.48xG.

Liverpool’s defence is only bettered by Manchester City and Chelsea.

Comparing the two sides a Burnley result is highly unlikely, despite having results against Arsenal and Manchester United in previous weeks.

But Liverpool is a step above these two sides scorings nearly 2.6 goals a game.

Burnley have not scored two goals since they drew to Crystal Palace on the 20th of November.

This means it is highly unlikely Liverpool do not come away with all three points.

(Featured image by Owen Smith, for Merseysportlive)