The contrast between February 2024 and 2025 could hardly be different for the Liverpool squad.

Twelve months ago, the Reds were in the midst of a crippling injury crisis that was reaching almost comical levels and while many will look at February of 2024 as the month when the club won the Carabao Cup in memorable circumstances against Chelsea, the extraordinary length of absentees meant Jurgen Klopp was simply forced into trying to win a trophy with fledglings like James McConnell, Bobby Clark and Jayden Danns on the pitch.

The 1-0 win provided an incredible, feelgood story for the football club and its Academy staff in particular, but it was a situation that was thrust upon them rather than being anything by design. Had the injury situation been at a manageable level, Klopp would have turned to his more trusted and senior pros on the day no doubt.

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Liverpool actually went into that game with 11 players sidelined and quickly saw that number move to a dozen when Ryan Gravenberch was stretched off after a dreadful challenge from Moises Caicedo. Wataru Endo left Wembley on crutches and in a protective boot that day too to take the number to an eye-watering 13.

The fitness concerns had started to pile up earlier in the month when the Reds went to Brentford already without several key men, including late drop-out Alisson Becker, and then saw Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones pick up knocks of varying severity.

It meant the Reds were having to try and navigate their way through a title challenge while the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Dominik Szoboszlai were all sidelined with Jota, Nunez, Jones, Salah and Alisson before Endo and Gravenberch swelled the numbers further.

At one stage, in fact, it was being jokingly suggested around the place that the name of the training base was set to change to the AXA Walk-in Centre, such was the punishing number of absentees. It was a glib jibe that bordered on cruel for those impacted, but there's a lot of truth said in jest.

This time out, only Alexander-Arnold is a concern and an update is expected when Liverpool learn more about the severity of the thigh issue that forced him off in the second half of Saturday's 2-0 win at Bournemouth.

The England international was withdrawn for Conor Bradley, with Slot saying at the Vitality Stadium: “The situation is he said to me that you have to take me off and he sat on the floor and we took him off.

"He felt something, I can’t tell you exactly what it was and how bad it is as we are (talking now) only just after the game. But it’s never a good sign if a player is asking for a substitution. It’s not a fact but I would be surprised if he plays on Thursday. Let’s hope he is back with us as soon as possible.”

Alexander-Arnold aside, Slot has a full complement of players to choose from now, which is a situation that is as far removed as is possible from the difficulties experienced around this time last year.

Such are the options, in fact, that the Reds boss was even able to leave Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa on Merseyside for the trip to Bournemouth, showcasing the strength in depth that is the envy of the Premier League right now.

Gomez has only recently returned from a hamstring problem suffered at West Ham in late December, while Chiesa was rested having played his first 90 minutes since June in Wednesday's Champions League loss at PSV.

"For us, we need everyone to push each other," says captain Virgil van Dijk. "We are still in all the competitions. The boys that came on today did well and that is what we need. That is the positive thing about the big squad. Everyone needs to feel a part of it."

Perhaps the player who best encapsulates the changing fortunes on the injury front is Salah, who looked a shadow of the player who had lit up the first half of last season with 18 goals prior to departing for the Africa Cup of Nations in January, where a hamstring injury in the Ivory Coast was followed by lingering issues that never really abated.

Now, he is injury free and up to 25 goals in all competitions. He became just the fifth player to register 20 for five successive Premier League seasons on Saturday, with his first-half penalty seeing him join legendary names like Alan Shearer, Sergio Augero, Harry Kane and Thierry Henry. Now up to sixth in the all-time list of scorers on 178, seven more will see him move beyond Manchester City great Augero and into the top five.

“You have to look at how many goals and assists he scores and just how important he is to the team," says former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise. "You don’t find many players with that quality.

"On the pitch he looks happier than he did at the beginning of the season, he is smiling and playing the best he has ever played. Things are looking good and hopefully he will stay for another couple of seasons.”

There was a theory that Klopp's hands were forced last term by bringing players back into the fold before they were completely ready and that knock-on effect saw the team run out of steam at the worst possible time as they eventually fell away in the title hunt.

Too many of his main men were short of 100% as the campaign entered a critical period and they eventually slumped out of the FA Cup with defeat at Manchester United before being dumped from the Europa League by Atalanta and finishing a distant third to Arsenal and Manchester City.

There are few concerns of a repeat this time out as the Reds go hunting in the domestic cup competitions this coming week, starting with a Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with Tottenham at Anfield. Progress to the Wembley showpiece will offer Slot the perfect afternoon to see exactly what it is like to take charge of Liverpool on cup final day, which is a rite of passage for any Reds boss with lofty ambitions.

The great luxury this time out is that any changes to the team by Slot will be entirely down to choice rather than necessity. That bodes well for the months ahead.