Liverpool are poised to recall Steven Gerrard for their Premier League trip to Leicester City on Tuesday evening.
On the 16th anniversary of his Reds debut, the club captain started on the bench for the late victory over Stoke City, which took them to 11th in the table.
With manager Brendan Rodgers admitting in the aftermath of the result that he was unaware of the significance of the date, rumours began circulating of a fallout between him and Liverpool's long-serving skipper.
However, Gerrard strongly refuted those reports on Sunday and is believed to be closer to prolonging his legendary Anfield career now that the club have finally offered him an extension to his expiring contract.
The 34-year-old has been accused of underperforming this season, but it was not until after his 75th-minute introduction against the Potters that Glen Johnson scored to end Liverpool's five-match winless streak.
Leicester will be hoping to end their own miserable run of form when the Merseysiders visit the Midlands, with two points from a possible 24 condemning them to the bottom of the table for the first time since promotion.
They have not won since the last time that they welcomed North-West giants to the King Power Stadium - the famous 5-3 victory over Manchester United in September, in which they twice came from two goals down.
Nigel Pearson will be desperately searching for positives and may take something from the fact that the Foxes at least ended a 504-minute scoring drought in the 3-2 defeat to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
The 51-year-old has no new injury worries, with Matthew Upson and Ben Hamer his only first-team absentees, and therefore could name the same starting XI which narrowly lost out in a thriller at Loftus Road.
Matty James is now the favoured partner of decorated midfielder Esteban Cambiasso, who is preparing for his first footballing Christmas, while Jeffrey Schlupp and Leonardo Ulloa should keep their places.
Rodgers could stick with Lucas Leiva in a holding role and instead sacrifice Joe Allen to give Gerrard more attacking licence. Dejan Lovren was also dropped on Saturday and will again find Kolo Toure preferred in defence.
There will be a fourth start in succession for striker Rickie Lambert in the absence of Daniel Sturridge and Mario Balotelli, while his former Southampton teammate Adam Lallana is pushing Philippe Coutinho for a chance.
Leicester:
Recent form: LLLLDL
Possible starting lineup: Schmeichel; De Laet, Morgan, Wasilewski, Konchesky; Mahrez, Cambiasso, James, Schlupp; Vardy, Ulloa
Liverpool:
Form in Premier League: WDLLLW
Form in all competitions: LLLLDW
Possible starting lineup: Mignolet; Johnson, Toure, Skrtel, Enrique; Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Lallana; Sterling, Lambert
Sports Mole says: 1-1
No Data Analysis info
