Liverpool will head to west London for their Premier League clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tomorrow evening and Jurgen Klopp will be hoping his team can quickly improve upon their tired performance against Manchester City.
The Reds are currently eighth in the top flight following their 4-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and the side are running out of chances to close the gap to Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur in the race for a Champions League qualifying spot.
Indeed, Chelsea are in a much worse position than Liverpool at this stage of the season and there is an opportunity there for them to capitalise on Graham Potter's poor form if the team can bring the energy needed to take all three points.
Many issues can be pinpointed to blame in Liverpool's humiliating loss against Man City, but none more so than the lack of urgency and effort put into the second half of the performance – with the Reds only claiming 25% possession, zero shots on target and only 124 accurate passes completed in the final 45 minutes.
As a result, Klopp desperately needs to inject some fresh perspectives and energy into the team with Darwin Nunez the perfect player to bring unpredictability and a huge threat to his opponents under the lights on Tuesday night.
Will Darwin Nunez start vs Chelsea?
The £140k-per-week goal machine started on the bench last weekend after withdrawing from the Uruguay squad over the international break due to an injury, but did make a 20-minute cameo when he replaced Mohammed Salah.
However, Nunez should instead replace Cody Gakpo to form a front three of Diogo Jota and the Egyptian against Chelsea following the Dutchman's lacklustre display at the weekend.
Over his 82-minute performance, Gakpo – dubbed "comical" for his dive against Pep Guardiola's side by journalist Simon Evans – had no shots on or off target, completed just 12 accurate passes, found himself being played offside twice and failed to complete any aerial duels, proving that he was relatively ineffective in front of goal.
Nunez – who was hailed an "agent of chaos" by Liverpool Echo's Theo Squires – has tallied up 14 goals and four assists over his 34 appearances in all competitions and has no trouble getting stuck into challenges.
Indeed, he thrives when competing for the ball with defenders – an asset that will make him extremely valuable in a clash against another troubled side.
With that being said, it will be interesting to see if Klopp makes some big changes to his starting XI after the embarrassing display put on by his team last Saturday, as snatching a victory away from home tomorrow will be crucial to ease their chase for Champions League football next season.