Liverpool will be seeking to bounce back from their controversial Premier League defeat to Tottenham last Saturday when they welcome Union SG to Anfield for their Europa League group-stage clash on Thursday night.
The Reds felt hard done by the loss and so the Belgian visitors could not have picked a worse time to storm Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp-led team had made a great start to the season but now they have themselves fired up to show a strong response to that defeat at Tottenham.
The Reds currently sit top of Group E after beating LASK Linz 3-1 in the opening fixture, while their Belgian counterparts played out a 1-1 draw with Toulouse in their opening group fixture.
In a group in which there is not a huge amount between the three teams looking to finish second to the Reds, the hope for the Belgians and Group E rivals Toulouse and LASK would have been to catch Liverpool on an off-day or when their focus was elsewhere.
However, that seems unlikely given how the weekend’s drama has stirred the hosts, and a fully-focused Liverpool team is a formidable beast that could run riot among the Europa League also-rans.
Injury Update:
Liverpool attacker Cody Gakpo left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a brace on his leg last weekend and looks likely to miss several weeks with a knee injury.
Midfielder Thiago Alcantara is still a few weeks away from returning from a hip issue and Stefan Bajcetic has suffered a small setback as he closes in on a return from a calf problem.
Union SG are without injured leading goalscorer Dennis Eckert Ayensa.
Head-to-head:
This will be the first meeting between the two teams and the host may be big favourites to win but this is a classic banana skin tie at Anfield with the Belgians not a team to be underestimated. Even in defeat, they could run the Reds close.
Indeed, the Reds have won 15 of their last 21 Europa League home matches and have won each of their last seven group-stage games in UEFA competition, while they have also lost only one of their previous 15 meetings with Belgian teams – a 3-1 defeat to Anderlecht in the 1978 European Super Cup.
