Liverpool will be looking to return to winning ways after an uncharacteristically poor spell of form when they welcome relegation-threatened Bournemouth to Anfield on Saturday lunchtime, describes agencies.
Jurgen Klopp's side have lost three of their last four games across all competitions but are firm favourites to get their campaign back on track against a Bournemouth side who sit inside the bottom three with 10 games of the season remaining.
After a season of winning week after week and breaking records left, right and centre, Liverpool have finally suffered a slump in form since returning from the winter break.
Debate as to whether Klopp's side deserve to be regarded as among the best teams in English football history has been put on hold following a week in which they have seen their hopes of matching Arsenal's Invincibles and Manchester United's treble-winners ended.
While their defence of the European crown remains up in the air, it still seems like only a matter of time before they regain their place as the champions of England, 30 years after lifting their 18th and most recent title.
Regardless of the seemingly inevitable destination of the Premier League trophy, the recent defeats have thrown up issues which need correcting for Liverpool, most notably a sudden vulnerability in defence which has seen Klopp's side concede seven goals in their last three outings. Discounting the EFL Cup tie against Aston Villa when the Under-23 side played, that is as many goals as Liverpool had shipped in their previous 20 matches before then.
There is also a concern at the other end considering the three recent defeats have all seen Liverpool fail to score; the Chelsea match was different as they created plenty of chances, but against both Atletico Madrid and Watford they looked short of ideas in the attacking third and managed only one shot on target in those two games combined.
Of course, the recent slump must be kept in the context of what has still been a season the likes of which we may never see again, but failure to pick up all three points against Bournemouth on Saturday would crank the pressure up a few more notches, particularly ahead of Atletico's visit.
The Cherries make the trip to Anfield having lost each of their last five away outings and eight of their last nine in the top flight, while no team have lost more games on their travels this season.
Matters are more encouraging at home, where Bournemouth have only lost one of their last five league games, but their away form does not appear to put them in the best position to take advantage of a Liverpool side showing more signs of mortality than at any other stage of the campaign.
Nigel Pearson's side were similarly written off before ending the joint-longest winning run and second-longest unbeaten streak in English top-flight history, going on to record the biggest victory by a team inside the bottom three over top of the league since 1985. Emulating that achievement at Anfield is a much tougher test, of course, but the result will have at least given Bournemouth some belief, while Liverpool's veil of invincibility has undoubtedly slipped in recent weeks.
The Cherries may also draw encouragement from the fact that they have beaten both Chelsea and Manchester United already this season, although a visit to Anfield is an entirely different proposition right now. Bournemouth are likely to need one or two surprise results during the run-in, though, with Howe's side still due to face six of the current top seven in their final 10 games of the campaign.
Liverpool remain without injured captain Jordan Henderson, whose absence has been keenly felt since limping off in the first leg of the Champions League tie with Atletico. There is better news regarding Naby Keita, though, with the Guinean returning to training on Thursday having missed the last two games.
Longer-term absentees Xherdan Shaqiri and Nathaniel Clyne remain sidelined, but a host of star names are expected to return to the starting lineup after sitting out in the FA Cup.
Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Georginio Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino are among the players likely to come back in, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be pushing for a start ahead of James Milner, Adam Lallana and the fit-again Keita. Salah, incidentally, has never failed to score in a game against the Cherries, netting seven times in five meetings.
Bournemouth will be without Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson, who is ineligible to face his parent club, while Arnaut Groeneveld, Charlie Daniels, David Brooks, Chris Mepham and Lloyd Kelly all remain sidelined through injury.
Howe could name an unchanged team to the one which drew with Chelsea last weekend, which would mean former Liverpool striker Dominic Solanke has to make do with a place on the bench. Ryan Fraser has, by his own admission, fallen short of his own high standards so far this season, but only Liverpool's Alexander-Arnold has provided more Premier League assists than him since the start of last season.
