Ruben Amorim has ruled Lisandro Martinez out of Sunday’s trip to Liverpool, while Noussair Mazraoui is doubtful for the game on Merseyside.

Martinez is approaching a return from the knee injury he suffered in early February but is not yet back in full training with the rest of the squad.

Mazraoui hasn’t played since the 2-1 home victory over Chelsea in September.

He was selected for international duty with Morocco but did not feature in wins over Bahrain and Congo for the World Cup-bound Atlas Lions.

Nonetheless, Amorim should have a strong squad to pick from at Anfield, although caution will be taken around those who embarked on longer trips, such as Casemiro and Matheus Cunha, who were in the Far East with Brazil.

The boss also added that captain Bruno Fernandes was among those granted extra time off after international duty.

“Licha is near, but almost returning to the trainings with the team,” Ruben told reporters.

“Mazraoui, I don’t know. The rest of the guys, the national team [players], they are ready. But, if you saw the games, some players play in Japan, so we need to be careful, to give more time.

“Diogo [Dalot] didn’t play the last game [with Portugal], he was here [yesterday]. Bruno played 62 minutes, we gave [him] one more day [to recover].

“We try to balance everything to have everyone ready. But they are ready, the guys are returning from national teams. They are ready to play.”

Later in his press conference, Amorim hinted that Senne Lammens could be in line to start again for the Reds.

The Belgian keeper impressed on his debut as we beat Sunderland in our last outing and recorded a first top-flight clean sheet of the campaign.

United are bidding for a first win at Anfield since January 2016, in our 100th match against Liverpool at the ground.

LIVERPOOL TEAM NEWS

Arne Slot held his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, and confirmed that goalkeeper Alisson Becker will be unavailable on Sunday.

The Brazilian suffered an injury during Liverpool's Champions League defeat to Galatasaray earlier this month and has not yet resumed training, so Giorgi Mamardashvili is set to continue between the sticks.

Liverpool can call on the services of Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch despite injury concerns for both over the international break.

“Ryan is completely fit, although we still have to train twice. But, if you ask me now, he is completely fit,” Slot said. “Ibou has come back to us, started the sessions again and is expected to train with us today.”

Young defender Giovanni Leoni is sidelined for the long term with a knee injury.