Vincent Kompany hopes to have at least one defender back for this weekend’s trip to Liverpool, with the possibility of two returnees.

The Burnley boss has been without Jordan Beyer, Hannes Delcroix and Charlie Taylor in recent weeks with all three picking up minor knocks. In their absence, the Claret have gone five Premier League games without a win, although they did come from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Fulham last weekend.

On Saturday, they face a Liverpool side who may have lost top spot in the Premier League by kick-off, given Manchester City host Everton at 12.30pm. The odds are against Burnley at Anfield, where no one has come away with a league win all season, but Kompany at least hopes to welcome back some senior options at the back.

“I’m quite positive on Delcroix and Taylor, we’ll see if the final training session goes to plan,” the Belgian admitted. “Hopefully it’s positive news, but we’ll see.

“You go to Anfield, you’ve got to do everything right, you’ve got to have a few things going your way as well. The biggest thing we can control is what we have to do on the day and that’s how we prepare for the game.”

That 2-2 fightback at Fulham has given Burnley a small bit of momentum going into what is a huge game, and there is optimism regarding January loan arrival David Datro Fofana, who netted both goals including a 91st-minute leveller. That impressive start to life at Turf Moor came from the bench and Kompany refused to give away whether the 21-year-old could start at Liverpool.

“He had some solid game time in one of the top five leagues in Europe, but to be honest we will see,” he said. “Those discussions, I don’t want them to start too early in the week, I want them to get through the week and do what they have to do. Friday afternoon it’s something we’ll think about further.”

Liverpool will be without Thiago Alcantara for Saturday’s game after the midfielder suffered an injury setback during his five-minute cameo appearance at Arsenal last weekend. Jurgen Klopp will also be without long-term absentee Joel Matip and is unlikely to have Mohamed Salah available either.