Liverpool could not have picked a more difficult goalkeeper to come up against in order to end their goal drought.
Just one goal in their last four matches - plus only one goal in the first hour against Aston Villa's youth team in the FA Cup - has seen Jurgen Klopp's men drop vital points in the title race.
And they face Burnley next, the only team to take points away from Anfield last season in the Premier League.
Nick Pope's abilities are pretty clear - there is a strong argument, for instance, that he should be England's number one goalkeeper. But it is only when you compare him to Alisson Becker does his real quality shine through even more brightly.
"On the defensive side, Burnley are doing enough when it comes to keeping clean sheets," said Josh Williams on the Analysing Anfield podcast.
"When it comes to Liverpool [and their recent struggles with finishing], a keeper that you do not want to face is Pope because he tends to be a good shot-stopper and he tends to overperform based on the last couple of seasons.
"Burnley tend to get a lot of bodies between the shooter and the goal."
"He is overperforming in a lot of the metrics and he has the best overperformance in terms of expected goals conceded," added David Hughes.
"He is really interesting because I would talk about him being a top keeper. His distribution is untested but in terms of shot-stopping, he is statistically the best in the league.
Listen to the full Analysing Anfield podcast by clicking HERE
"In terms of defensive actions made outside the penalty area, only Alisson makes more. So that is the furthest distance from goal that he makes a defensive action and the highest average distance outside the penalty area per 90 minutes.
"That is something you might associate with Alisson or Ederson at Man City - these sweeper keepers - but it interesting that Pope shows up quite well in that metric this season.
"He is a really good keeper and you don't want to be facing him."
But face him - and beat him - Liverpool will have to do, with Man City able to move four points ahead of the Reds should they beat Aston Villa on Wednesday.
Mohamed Salah and co might not get chance after chance at Anfield on Thursday, but when those opportunities do arrive, they will have to be taken well.
Burnley do not tend to give away gifts inside the penalty area, but equally, they have only scored nine league goals all season - four fewer than Salah has notched on his own - and will offer a limited attacking threat.
For the second time this week, Liverpool are about to play a game that many would term 'must-win'. If they are do achieve that result in this one, though, their finishing is going to have to improve.
