Liverpool is preparing for a pivotal round of Premier League football. First up is a Champions League clash against PSV, but the real stakes come at the weekend — when Arsenal takes on Manchester City after the Reds have travelled to face Andoni Iraola's in-form Bournemouth side.

While Arne Slot certainly won't feel as though he could secure the title just yet, Arsenal might worry that it could throw it away. Should Liverpool come through what is bound to be a tricky Bournemouth test, followed by dropped points for the Gunners, it would look like a long way back.

On the other hand, the worst-case scenario could still see Liverpool's lead at the top of the Premier League cut to just three points, with the potentially hazardous game in hand against Everton next up in the fixture list. Having just demolished Nottingham Forest 5-0, Bournemouth is certainly not to be taken lightly.

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That's despite the fact that the Cherries are something of a skeleton crew at present. After the win, Iraola conceded that his squad is "thin", and that was something of an understatement.

"We are taking the games game by game," Iraola told the BBC after the thumping Nottingham Forest win. "We have Liverpool next. We are thin on numbers so we try to recover players for that game."

Bournemouth currently has nine players sidelined by injury. Nor are these squad players, for the most part: Iraola is missing three of the club's top six all-time most expensive signings.

Those are Evanilson (the overall record addition), Luis Sinisterra, and Alex Scott. They are joined in the treatment room by Enes Unal, Marcos Senesi (also both in the club's top 20 signings), Adam Smith, James Hill, Julian Araujo, and Julio Soler.

Yet it doesn't seem to be making an iota of difference to Iraola. Bournemouth has gone 13 games without defeat, the third-longest unbeaten run in the Premier League, behind Liverpool and Arsenal.

In its last two games, Bournemouth has dismantled Newcastle's own unbeaten run, and blitzed high-flying Forest. Liverpool has every reason to be wary as it travels to the Vitality Stadium.

And it has to be said that Iraola's approach to it all has been very refreshing. It seems like we have to hear about Arsenal's "unprecedented" injury woes every week — and that's not to mention Spurs, where Ange Postecoglou is somehow managing to get away with relegation form — but Bournemouth is more or less just cracking on with things.

In fact, Arsenal's complaints are being made to look a bit silly, such is the ease with which Iraola is handling his own crisis. Mikel Arteta is dealing with a shorter injury list, and will have nowhere to hide in the event that Manchester City comes out on top at the weekend.

For its part, Liverpool will be looking to pile on the pressure ahead of that game. Its own injury list is refreshingly small, with just Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota and Joe Gomez absent.

But it's no understatement to say that masterminding a win against Iraola and Bournemouth would be one of Slot's best results to date. Against all odds, this fixture is set to be a potentially defining one in the title race.