PreviewTrent Alexander-Arnold interview: Progress, Ipswich and squad selflessness

The two sides met in August on the opening weekend of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign, when second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah saw the Reds run out 2-0 winners.

Five months on from that afternoon at Portman Road, Arne Slot's men sit six points clear at the summit with a game in hand.

"I think we've developed really well as a team, as a squad, individually and collectively between the start of the season and now," Alexander-Arnold told Liverpoolfc.com when previewing Saturday's Anfield clash.

"You can see we play with a clear identity that the manager's brought in and we've bought in to it.

"I'm sure it will be a different kind of game but it will be an exciting game and it does give us a good chance to reflect on how far we've come."

In his pre-match press conference, Slot spoke about the need for Liverpool to strike the right balance between risk-taking and patience against effective teams such as Kieran McKenna's Ipswich.

On that belief, Alexander-Arnold said: "That's football, you need to go out there and win the game but at the same time try not to lose it. There's always that balance within a football game.

"The weight of risk and reward, you've got to weigh it up and we can't go all out and expect not to be caught out on the break.

"For us, it's about making sure we're playing the way we want to – dominating the game with the ball and limiting what they can do without the ball. It's about causing as many problems as we can for them.

"Obviously the focus for us is trying to keep the ball out of our third as much as possible. As I said, dominate with the ball, keep it in their half, just be a constant threat throughout the whole game, start the game well and see it through to the end and come away with the result. That's the main thing for us."

• Liverpool v Ipswich: Team news

The Reds head in to the 3pm GMT kick-off with the knowledge they have a squad packed with game-changers.

Substitutes have come on and scored in each of the last four matches, with Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez's efforts deciding the previous two encounters against Lille and Brentford respectively.

Alexander-Arnold believes the impact delivered from the bench serves as further proof of the collective's absolute desire to make this season a success.

The vice-captain finished: "That's something you have to buy in to. I think at the start of the season, a new manager, us as players, we've got to buy in to the way the manager wants to play.

"We all understand he'll make decisions, some of which not everyone is going to agree with – every lad in the changing room thinks that they deserve to start and wants to play.

"But it's having that focus of it's a team sport, we're going to need everyone and we need to be at 100 per cent.

"We've seen recently in the games that we've had lads that have come on and really helped us win games. That's what we need.

"If you're going to be successful, you need a full, collective squad that all buy in to the idea. Hopefully come the end of the season we'll all be celebrating together."