As Liverpool's chase for Champions League football continues, the club have arrived at their penultimate hurdle, in which the Reds are set to face Burnley at Turf Moor.
Jurgen Klopp is firmly expected to pick up three points with the fixture deemed as relatively easy by many, but it could prove to be difficult to navigate without the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip in particular.
Burnley are renowned for their unique playing style under Sean Dyche, which typically involves direct football, physical competition, and plenty of aerial passes to the extent that the ball almost spends as much time in the air as it does on the ground.
Liverpool have generally fared well in each of their past away clashes against Dyche's men, but the lack of aerial dominance in the centre of defence could result in opportunities emerging for the likes of Chris Wood and those running beyond him.
Last season, Joel Matip posted the best success rate for aerial duels in the Premier League, losing just five of his 51 battles which left him with an impressive success rate of 90.2%; Van Dijk's story was similar, as he placed second with a success rate of 81% from his 226 contests.
The former is around 6-foot-5 while the latter is 6-foot-4, and the pair have generally coped comfortably with Burnley's aerial assault by winning the first challenge cleanly and avoiding uncomfortable second balls.
Those situations tend to allow the Clarets to instigate moments of chaos, whereby possession bounces around and deflects off unsuspecting players, with that happening when the two last met at Anfield, in which Burnley inflicted Liverpool's first home loss in the Premier League in 68 games.
Liverpool are placed 18th in England's top-flight at present for aerial success after ranking as high as third last time around, with much of that drop stemming from the centre-back injury crisis on Merseyside.
Nat Phillips has been able to help with the aerial weaknesses - winning 72.6% his duels which places him 13th this season - but the other options fielded by Klopp have failed to live up to the high aerial standards set by Van Dijk and Matip.
The Reds certainly have the quality to blow Dyche's outfit away on Wednesday evening, but for that to happen, Klopp will need to mask the aerial fragility of his team.
