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Liverpool's fixture list relents a little on paper following the conclusion of the international break, and Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane have made their predictions. With the first stars now back in training, a trip to Burnley is on the horizon.
That comes after wins over Bournemouth, Newcastle, and Arsenal. To put that run into perspective, Liverpool dropped four points from the equivalent fixtures en route to the title last season — underlining the significance of the perfect start to the new campaign.
But it did not take Arne Slot long to find out that there are no easy games in the Premier League, with that defeat to Nottingham Forest at Anfield last season clearly haunting him for a long time. He will not be taking a visit to Burnley lightly, even with Alexander Isak now through the door and potentially able to play a part.
Exactly what kind of role Isak will be ready to play remains to be seen. He was kept on the bench throughout Sweden's first match of the international break, but was summonned for the final 20 minutes in the match against Kosovo on Monday.
With a few days of training at Liverpool under his belt, he should be ready to feature in some capacity. But given the form of Hugo Ekitike, Slot will not feel the need to rush his introduction into the side.
Whichever combination of forwards gets minutes, Liverpool should have enough firepower to get past the newly-promoted outfit, which has begun its season with defeats to Tottenham and Man United, and a win against Sunderland. Keane is predicting a comfortable afternoon for the Reds at Turf Moor.
Debating the weekend's fixtures on the Overlap, Keane and Ian Wright ultimately elected for a 3-0 Liverpool win. Jill Scott also predicted this comfortable scoreline.
On the other side of the table, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville went for a more conservative 2-0 win. Neville went as far as to warn that this could be a "tough one" for Liverpool.
Carragher, meanwhile, expressed his skepticism about Isak's minutes, predicting the Swede would not feature from the start. Yet even with that being the case, goals shouldn't be too much of a concern, given that Liverpool has notched eight goals from its first three matches.
If anything, the clean sheet on which Keane and Carragher agree would be the biggest source of pleasure for Slot. Liverpool has started the campaign looking a little shaky on counter-attacks, and newly-promoted outfits are always likely to probe that vulnerability.
In particular, Ibrahima Konate was excellent against Arsenal, but had previously struggled against Bournemouth and Newcastle. Amid more question marks over his future, another big performance would be timely.
Yet despite potential ways in which Burnley could plausibly make things "tough", Keane's prediction ultimately looks that little bit more likely than Carragher's. Both big-six opponents so far have managed to put three past Scott Parker's side — and one of them was Manchester United.
Burnley was promoted on the strength of its defense, which owed much to the heroics of James Trafford. He is now facing a season as a potential understudy to Gianluigi Donnarumma at Manchester City.
Without him, and contending with a huge step up in quality, Parker has lost that defensive solidity. He may yet refind it, but Slot will be quietly confident that Liverpool will not be Burnley's first big scalp.
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