Good morning! Brendan Rodgers is preparing his Liverpool side for a tricky visit to the Emirates to face Arsenal this weekend, and will be speaking to the media ahead of the trip in around 15 minutes.

The team's striker problems have been dealt a blow this week. With Daniel Sturridge still out injured, the visitors will also be without Mario Balotelli as he's been given a one-match ban for making an inappropriate post on Twitter. For the match against Man Utd last week, Rodgers didn't name a recognised striker in his starting lineup, leaving Raheem Sterling to lead the attack.

As I mentioned in the introduction, Liverpool have lacked consistency in the Premier League in recent weeks. Liverpool followed up their goalless draw against Sunderland earlier this month with defeat at Old Trafford earlier this month, having picked up just one win during November. After this match though, the team has the chance to pick up a few points over the festive period, with matches against Burnley, Swansea and Leicester City also coming up.

Lazar Markovic seems likely to feature against Arsenal. The summer signing impressed his manager with a goal and his all-round performance during their League Cup win earlier this week:

Brendan Rodgers on Lazar Markovic: "He was outstanding at Bournemouth. His speed and movement was excellent." #LFC pic.twitter.com/9EMZRqtamf — Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 19, 2014

Rodgers is likely to face questions about the team's goalkeeper situation as well this morning. The manager benched Simon Mignolet for the match at Old Trafford following a string of errors from the Belgian in recent weeks, with Brad Jones taking the gloves in his place.

Don't forget, Sports Mole's live coverage from this match will start an hour before kickoff. We'll also bring you team news, match reports and match analysis as well as plenty more on Sunday.

Looking ahead to the transfer window, there are plenty of players being linked with Liverpool ahead of next month. Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa is thought to be attracting interest from Anfield, while Karim Benzema and Jackson Martinez have been linked with the club. Balotelli has been linked with a move away though, with Inter Milan rumoured to be keen to re-sign the Italian international.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has already held his press conference ahead of this meeting. He's confirmed that Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Nacho Monreal will all need late fitness tests, but Laurent Koscielny will not play this weekend.

Right then, Rodgers is ready to go, so let's see what the manager has to say this week...

Rodgers is asked about the ban handed to Mario Balotelli yesterday. The manager simply states that the team has accepted the punishment.

Turning his attention to this weekend's opponents, Rodgers says: "Arsenal are a top side with outstanding players. It will be a difficult game for us. [Alexis Sanchez is] a world class players with outstanding quality."

We've already mentioned that Rodgers has been praising Markovic for his performance in the Capital One Cup earlier this week, and the manager wastes no time when given the chance to add to the midfielder's plaudits: "It was a great finish by Lazar and I thought he was excellent, he was a real threat for us."

The subject of goalkeepers comes up, and Rodgers simply responds "no change" when asked who will start against Arsenal, so Mignolet will remain on the bench as Jones continues between the posts for the Reds.

Dejan Lovren lasted just half the match against Bournemouth the other night, and Rodgers confirms that he will need a late fitness test on his groin ahead of this match.

Well that's all from a not particularly chatty Brendan Rodgers today. So, join us again on Sunday to find out if his side can turn around their form against Arsenal. Until then, thanks for joining me this morning, goodbye.