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Having snatched the title from Manchester City's clutches last season, Liverpool will now hope its latest trip to the Etihad Stadium can demonstrate the value of triumph over their Premier League rivals in the transfer market this summer.
Both clubs were pursuing the signature of Florian Wirtz until Reds manager Arne Slot convinced the 22-year-old attacking midfielder to make a $157 million (£116 million) switch from Bayer Leverkusen to Anfield.
The benefits, however, have been gradual to emerge with Wirtz requiring time to adjust to a significantly altered team, leading former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to claim this week that the Germany international's arrival had "destroyed" Liverpool's title-winning midfield.
Yet despite deploying the former Leverkusen star on the left flank in Tuesday's outstanding Champions League victory over Real Madrid, Slot remains confident the player will ultimately flourish in his favored midfield position.
"Everyone has a right to his own opinion and many of them have," the Reds boss said, regarding Wenger's remarks. "If I need open-heart surgery, I am not going to tell the surgeon what he needs to do, but about football, everyone is telling you what the best thing is to do.
"Florian now played off the left. But I can tell you if it is not this season, it is the other season, or if it is not now, it is tomorrow, he will have great performances as a midfielder for Liverpool as well.
"We have five or six very good midfielders who can all play together but they need to play more together to get the best out of every single player. Florian needs time to adapt to his teammates; teammates need time to adapt to him."
Wirtz might find himself on the left flank again this Sunday, as Slot seems to favor the proven midfield trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, who recently led the team to victories over Aston Villa and Real.
Despite concerns about Wirtz's ability to handle the physical demands of the Premier League, the success stories of David Silva and Bernardo Silva at City suggest that smaller players can indeed dominate matches.
"He definitely has the talent for it, but it's not only about one player," Slot commented. "It's also about the team you are playing in. Do they find you when you are in the pocket in the right timing, where you can then show your quality?".
"There has been a lot of focus on him individually and I'm more focused on team performance.
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"What I can say about Florian is that since Xabi Alonso came in (at Leverkusen) he was mainly used in a 3-4-3 system as an inverted winger where before that he mainly played as a 10. In the national team, he plays as an inverted winger as well.
"For me, the only challenge I have is making sure he gets in those positions as an inverted winger or as a 10, in those positions in and around the 18-yard box where his teammates need to find him in the right timing, because then he will always produce special things.
"He does this for the national team, he did it for Leverkusen and he's already done that for us as well."
Arsenal's impressive beginning to the Premier League season has seen both City and Liverpool fall behind in the title race, though Slot has dismissed claims that Sunday represents a must-win fixture for his side, despite the possibility that defeat could leave them 10 points behind the Gunners and four points adrift of Pep Guardiola's team.
"I said last season the best way to judge the league table is after 19 games," said Slot. "If you want to judge it at some point, the fairest way is halfway through the season.
"Some teams played already Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle away, all these difficult ones. And some, like we had last season, we hardly played one of the top four or five in the first nine games of the season.
"So that is why, after 19 games, let's see where every team is then and what is realistic for the second half of the season."
Slot, who has been open about drawing inspiration from Guardiola as a coach, orchestrated Liverpool's double victory over City last season, including a memorable 2-0 triumph at the Etihad in February, where he outwitted the Spaniard using a 4-4-2 formation.
"I think he had an influence on many people, first of all on the people who are now at big clubs," Slot commented.
"Mikel Arteta, Enzo Maresca, Vincent Kompany, you can see a lot of comparisons between how Pep has always played the game and how these managers play the game.
"He has been influential indirectly to people who do not know him or didn't work with him, but if you are for so many years that your teams are a joy to watch, it would be a surprise if you had no influence on other people.
"Playing against him was already nice. The first time we played against each other was at Anfield (last December) and they had 250 injuries — that is an exaggeration — but he missed a lot, a lot of players back then.
"When you have to play in this ridiculous fixture list we are having of playing every three days, if you have seven or eight players out that is very challenging, even for him.
"And last season, when we beat them, everyone was very positive, but they had 70 per cent of the ball, and we were only defending, which is a good win.
"But I think if you play the same game 10 times I don't think we are able to win it 10 times in that manner. It's nice to have won the games but I can look realistically how we won it."
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