Liverpool take on the team that they dislodged as Premier League champions last season when they face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The Reds have reassumed their position at the top of the table heading into the weekend but know that defeat could see them tumble out of the top four entirely, while also putting them within striking distance of Man City themselves.

Victory, though, would be another statement of their title credentials and take them eight points clear of their expected closest challengers, and they go into the match off the back of five successive wins across all competitions.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how Jurgen Klopp could line his side up for the contest.

Out: Virgil van Dijk (knee), Thiago Alcantara (knee), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee), Fabinho (hamstring)
Doubtful: Joel Matip (muscle), Diogo Jota (knock)

> Click here for Liverpool's latest injury and suspension news ahead of this match

Whereas Liverpool's back four and front three have almost picked themselves for most of the past two seasons, it is those two areas of the field where Klopp must make his biggest decisions in the buildup to this match.

Up front, Diogo Jota's recent form is impossible to ignore, with the summer signing having now scored six times in his last four games for the club - including a Champions League hat-trick away to Atalanta BC in midweek.

Jota's free-scoring form has coincided with another drought for Roberto Firmino, leading to question marks over the Brazilian's place in the side in the long term.

Klopp is a big admirer of what Firmino brings to the team, though, and so rather than leave him out for a second consecutive game the manager could switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation which enables him to play all four of his main attackers.

In reality that would likely be a fluid formation which sees Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Jota and Firmino all spend time in the centre-forward role.

It is a system which Liverpool have utilised a number of times before, but most commonly when they are struggling to break a team down and so a trip to face Man City in what is likely to be a free-flowing game may not be seen by Klopp as the ideal match in which to switch, particularly as Man City are also expected to play a 4-3-3.

The alternative of leaving one of Jota, Firmino, Salah or Mane out looks even more unlikely, though, which means that Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson could act as the two holding players.

Thiago Alcantara will once again miss out as he continues to struggle with the legacy of Richarlison's reckless challenge in the Merseyside derby, but Naby Keita is now fit again and adds to Liverpool's midfield options.

At the back, Joel Matip is ready to return having been back in training for more than a week now, and he is expected to come straight back into the starting XI alongside Joe Gomez.

Nat Phillips produced a man-of-the-match display last weekend while Rhys Williams has also impressed in the Champions League, but Klopp will surely favour experience in such a big game and against such a dangerous attack.

Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain remain long-term absentees, while Fabinho is also sidelined for the champions.

> Click here to see how Man City could line up against Liverpool