With Liverpool coming through an intense run of wins over Burnley, Atletico Madrid and Everton in seven days, Arne Slot will rest at least five players against Southampton.
Liverpool navigated a tricky run over fixtures over the past week against three opponents built to frustrate them whenever possible.
Slot made three changes between beating Burnley 1-0 and the 3-2 win over Atletico and then four for the 2-1 Merseyside derby victory, with seven players starting all three games.
Next up is the visit of Southampton in the third round of the Carabao Cup, and speaking in his post-match press conference, Slot said Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah will not be involved in that tie.
“The ones that played three times 90 [minutes] are Virgil, Ibou, Mo, Ryan and Dom – the ones that are used to this intensity and this level,” he explained.
“And again they showed up really good.
“I can tell you now you won’t be seeing them on Tuesday.”
The chances are that Alisson and Cody Gakpo – the other two players from that group of seven ever-presents – will not start in the cup either.
Liverpool were in a way fortunate with the Carabao Cup draw as they will face Championship opposition, but Slot is likely to name a strong side regardless.
That comes with the likes of Jeremie Frimpong, Joe Gomez, Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones, Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha needing minutes while Giorgi Mamardashvili and Giovanni Leoni could both feature for the first time.
It should also be an opportunity for Alexander Isak to start again, while Florian Wirtz may be considered having been rested on Saturday.
“This is also the reason why teams like us, all the ones that are playing in Europe, need a squad like this. Because you need to play so many games,” Slot continued.
“It’s not an excuse, we have to accept it as it is.
“But we have had some issues, with Alexander Isak not training for four months, Mac Allister missing out a lot.
“I can go on and on and on, but the good thing is I do have the options to rotate throughout the week.”
Slot added that he had been planning to withdraw Gravenberch on the hour mark – likely as part of a triple substitution along with Gakpo and Mac Allister – only for Everton‘s goal to change his approach.
The midfielder will at least be given what is expected to be the entire night off on Tuesday, before Liverpool’s stalwarts are restored for the trip to Crystal Palace on September 27.