Neil Jones' Liverpool Special: Picking The Derby Day XI

Predicting a Rafa Benitez team is tricky enough at the best of times, but with Liverpool suffering an injury crisis and a half in the last few weeks, it has proven nigh-on impossible. For Sunday's Merseyside derby, he now faces fresh dilemmas aplenty, as Liverpool look to bounce back from the ignominy of a Champions League exit, and kick-start their Premier League campaign at Everton.

The Spaniard was relatively upbeat at his pre-match press conference on Friday, and suggested that the worst of the crisis has passed. Having welcomed back Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio to the starting line-up away to Debrecen on Tuesday night, Benitez is starting to see his strongest side emerge. Aurelio should be expected to start again on Sunday, perhaps at left-back ahead of Emiliano Insua, who has struggled of late.

That is not to say that problems do not still persist. Fernando Torres' fitness is the biggest worry of all, the Spanish star is struggling to overcome a groin problem, and is likely to be fit only for a bench place (at best) come Sunday.

Alongside him should be Alberto Aquilani, the £17 million Italian's recovery from an ankle injury is turning into something of a saga, and he is unlikely to be risked from the start in the hustle and bustle of a derby match. Benitez said as much in his press conference, talking of how the Italian needs game-time, but indicating that Liverpool's troubled run has made it hard to grant that wish.

In addition, both Albert Riera (hamstring) and Ryan Babel (ankle) are likely to be missing, whilst Yossi Benayoun's own hamstring trouble limited him to just 15 minutes in Hungary. He is likely to be used sparingly, despite his much-publicised placenta treatment.

Everton (4-2-3-1): Howard; Hibbert, Yobo, Distin, Baines; Rodwell, Heitinga; Fellaini, Cahill, Bilyaletdinov; Saha

Subs from: Nash (GK), Neill, Coleman, Gosling, Duffy, Agard, Yakubu, Pienaar, Osman, Duffy, Baxter, Jo

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua; Lucas, Mascherano; Kuyt, Gerrard, Aurelio; Ngog

Subs from : Cavalieri (GK), Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Dossena, Spearing, Aquilani, Babel, El-Zhar, Plessis, Voronin, Torres, Benayoun