Liverpool have been dealt a major blow with a slight hamstring injury ruling £75 million signing Virgil van Dijk out of Sunday's game at home to Manchester City.
Van Dijk only made his debut for the club nine days ago, scoring a dramatic, injury-time winner against Everton in the FA Cup at Anfield. He is replaced in the starting XI by Dejan Lovren.
Lovren and Joel Matip will start as centre-halves for the encounter against the Premier League leaders, with Loris Karius behind the pair in goal.
Karius maintains his place in the starting XI as Simon Mignolet is on the bench for the second consecutive game. Top scorer Mohamed Salah returns to the team after recovering from a small injury.
Today's #LFC team news... @VirgilvDijk is ruled out due to a tight hamstring. pic.twitter.com/wtCnOBCwyZ
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 14, 2018
For City. Ilkay Gundogan starts ahead of David Silva, who has been travelling back and forth to Spain following the premature birth of his son.
Gundogan was particularly instrumental in the victory over Burnley in the FA Cup last weekend with two delightful assists and it's a vote of confidence for a player who has been gradually working his way back to his best form since a serious knee ligament injury 13 months ago.
Other than that, Guardiola has gone with his strongest lineup available and will be hoping Aguero can finally end his goal drought at Anfield.
Liverpool: Karius, Gomez, Matip, Lovren, Robertson, Can, Wijnaldum, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mane, Salah, Firmino.
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Delph, Fernandinho (c), De Bruyne, Gundogan, Sane, Sterling, Aguero
Glenn Price and Jonathan Smith contributed to this report.