Arne Slot will be able to select his strongest XI against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, with just two absentees from the Liverpool squad.

Joe Gomez has missed the last three matches with a hamstring injury and there is no immediate return on the horizon for the center-back, while Darwin Nunez is suspended after he was shown a fifth yellow card of the season last time out in the Premier League.

Asked how far Gomez is off a return, Slot replied : “Quite far. He is definitely not with the team yet and Darwin is suspended. They are the ones we’ll miss tomorrow.”

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The Liverpool squad should also be relatively fresh after most players were given time off across the two cup games against Accrington Stanley and Tottenham Hotspur last week. Andy Robertson didn’t kick a ball in the two matches, Ibrahima Konate played just 10 minutes and Luis Diaz featured for only half an hour.

Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo also missed the Accrington game and Slot will hope to see some benefits from that.

The other advantage of the cup games were the minutes afforded to Conor Bradley, Harvey Elliott and Diogo Jota as the trio continue to build up match fitness following recent injuries.

On the latter, Slot said : “He's someone I like to have in my squad; I like to have him available. You saw us build him up. Now he's ready to play 90. It's nice to have him available, so hopefully it stays like this.”

As for Forest, who is just six points behind the leaders, it has only one injury absentee in the form of Ibrahim Sangare.

A win for Liverpool would inflict a major blow on one of its title rivals with Slot claiming ahead of the game that Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are very much in the running for top spot.

“I always said you can judge the table best halfway through the season and that moment is here now. If Forest is up there with us, with Arsenal, Chelsea, [Manchester] City and all the others, then they definitely are a team that is in competition with us and with the other teams,” opined the Dutchman ahead of the game.

“They deserved to be treated like this if you look at the way they play, if you look at their performances and results. It is going to be a very difficult challenge tomorrow to get a result.”