As Roberto Firmino slid home Liverpool’s magnificent seventh goal against Manchester United almost exactly a month ago in front of a raucous Anfield, the temptation was to think: corner turned.
For 90 glorious minutes, all their travails were forgotten in a blaze of Red Arrows ripping through the Red Devils. It’s safe to say they’ve been reacquainted with their troubles in the last three games – all of which ended in defeat, and crisis talks.
The concern for Reds manager Jurgen Klopp is how far off it his side looked in a 4-1 thrashing by erstwhile title rivals Manchester City, after which he admitted only four players performed ‘OK’, and in defeats by Real Madrid and, most concerning of all, Bournemouth.
Now the Merseyside club face managerless Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night lying eighth in the Premier League, eight points off the Champions League spots, out of every cup competition and desperately needing to arrest the slide.
Significant changes are expected – so below, Sportsmail looks at how Klopp and Co can spark themselves into life against the Blues – from dropping Trent Alexander-Arnold and starting Darwin Nunez to reining in their press.
Liverpool’s 4-1 thrashing at Manchester City was their third straight defeat in all competitions
The Reds held crisis talks after the loss and now face managerless Chelsea on Tuesday evening
Below, Sportsmail looks at what Jurgen Klopp and Co can do to turn things around in London
Put Trent out of his misery
It might be an unusual suggestion to drop one of the most lavishly talented full-backs in the country for a 37-year-old utility player.
Yet Trent has been well off the pace in recent week. He was tormented by the admittedly brilliant Jack Grealish and Vinicius Junior against City and Real and struggled against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace before that.
In previous seasons, his attacking and creative skillset has been enough to mask his clear defensive deficiencies, but he has only scored once in the league all season and has only recorded one assist since January 2.
There is still a player in there but given his lack of confidence, replacing him with Milner against Chelsea would be a good call.
The veteran played more than 70 minutes and helped his side to a clean sheet in the reverse fixture at Anfield.
He clearly relishes defending, winning every tackle and 50/50 ball – which is more than can be said for Trent at the moment.
Aside from that, the rest of the defence picks…