The place to start is the headband. Nat Phillips, the young Liverpool defender, starts smiling when it is mentioned so immediately you know there’s a story.
As he puts it, this campaign has — in the most dramatic sense — been ‘spectacular’ for the injuries that have befallen those who have played in the middle of Liverpool’s back four. Remarkably, Phillips had a scare of his own last week that threatened what turned out to be a landmark night.
He split his head open in the dying minutes of the 1-0 defeat by Fulham.