Liverpool are loving life at the moment as they sit top of the table in both the Premier League and the Champions League - but the ongoing wrangling around the futures of four of their star players has cast a slight concern about the future over the campaign to date.
Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all set to go out of contract in the summer, with Liverpool reported to be in talks with all three about extensions.
Goalkeeper Alisson meanwhile has a deal through to 2027, but his future is in doubt after an injury-hit season and the summer announcement that highly-rated Valencia stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili will be joining the club at the end of the season.
Liverpool should prioritise new Alisson deal despite Giorgi Mamardashvili arrival, poll says
We asked you which of the potential departures Liverpool should most move heaven and earth to keep beyond the end of the season, and frankly we're a bit surprised at the result.
Despite Caoimhin Kelleher's capable deputising and Mamardashvili's impending arrival, some 43 per cent of you picked Alisson as the most important player for Liverpool to keep beyond the end of this season.
Van Dijk came in second place with nearly half as many votes, taking 22 per cent and pipping Salah (20 per cent) into third place. Alexander-Arnold was rated as least important, with just 15 per cent of respondents ticking his name.
But which of them are you actually expecting will depart? It's worth pointing out this poll was run during a period of claims and counter-claims about all four players, but for what it's worth…
We didn't ask about Alisson because at this point, the goalkeeper's exit feels a foregone conclusion; but van Dijk was the only one of the remaining three who a majority of you think will depart Anfield at the end of the season, with 55 per cent thinking he will go.
43 per cent think Alexander-Arnold will go, despite him having the most persistent links to another club: Real Madrid's name has come up again and again. That leaves Salah as the one you think is most likely to to stay at Liverpool… though 41 per cent of you still expect he will go.
Whatever happens with the quartet in the longer term, Liverpool's immediate prospects look good. Have you seen the league table? They're bossing it at the moment.
No side has ever failed to win the league after opening up at least a five-point lead at this stage of the season, and public opinion reflects that reality: 73 per cent of poll respondents think they're going to win the Premier League this season.
That leaves 26 per cent who think they will finish elsewhere in the top four, while one per cent think the Reds will totally bottle it and finish outside the top four altogether. From that we think we can conclude that roughly 1 per cent of our poll respondents are embittered Manchester United fans.
