Football finance expert Kieran Maguire says relegation to the Championship will be "very severe" for Leicester in terms of the cuts needed.

However, he sees no reason why the Foxes can't bounce straight back up if they do go down.

"It’s going to be very severe," he told BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.

"Leicester particularly potentially are going to be going down to the Championship with the most expensive squad and the biggest wage bill in Premier League history for a side that could be relegated.

"They are looking at a potential reduction of two thirds in income compared to the most recent accounts. There is going to have to be a lot of belt-tightening, but it won’t be bad news for the players. Some of them will have to take modest wage cuts, some of them will move on given that Leicester’s revenue was £215m in 2022.

"If it was in the Championship, realistically we would be looking somewhere in the region of £70-80m. The wage bill was £180m. Clearly that’s not sustainable and that would impact upon people.

"Nobody wants the players to go but I think there would have to be a retrenchment. It doesn’t mean the club can’t bounce back. We’ve seen Burnley sell their best players at the end of last season and they have been worthy champions of the Championship this season.

"What the club will have to do, and fans won't like it, but the main focus will be getting players of value away first in the transfer market. There's no reason why you can't get fair value for players."

Liverpool could suffer a ninth Premier League away defeat in a season for the first time in 11 years.

The Reds have conceded 42 Premier League goals this season, equalling their worst defensive record in a full campaign under Jurgen Klopp.

Only Manchester City, with six wins, have beaten Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool more often than Leicester (five).

All five of those have come at King Power Stadium - including in each of the last two seasons.

Manchester City are the only side to beat Liverpool in three straight top-flight home matches since Klopp took charge.

Chris Sutton
BBC football expert

Leicester midfielder James Maddison criticised his team's performance after their defeat by Fulham on Monday. I get that, but he hasn't been decisive enough himself at times, like his penalty which was saved against Everton recently.

The Foxes really need to start doing their talking on the pitch, but I think they are in for a tough night against a Liverpool side who have won six games in a row and have their eyes firmly on a Champions League spot.

Liverpool are just relentless at the moment, and Leicester leak a lot of goals whoever they play because their defence is so bad.

It should be an entertaining game because both teams are much better when they come forward, and I also think Dean Smith's side will score - but Liverpool will score more, and I can only see one outcome.

Sutton's prediction: 1-3

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The most a team have scored in a Premier League season while being relegated is Blackpool's 55 in 2010-11.

Middlesbrough scored 54 in 1992-93 and 51 in 1996-97.

Mark Willis: On the one hand I'd be happy with fifth and Europa League, as I think Liverpool could be competitive in that competition with our current squad next year. But, we might struggle to attract quality reinforcements in the summer without the allure of Champions League.

Sulaimon Adelekan: Significant game at both ends of the table. Leicester will put up a good fight but Liverpool's quality and current form will see them prevail.

Dean Smith picked up five points in his first three games as Leicester boss but last Monday's 5-3 defeat by Fulham, coupled with wins for Everton and Nottingham Forest, saw his side slip back into the bottom three.

Forest and Leeds have both picked up points this weekend but Everton were beaten by Manchester City.

It leaves Leicester two points behind 17th-placed Everton with a superior goal difference.

Smith's side face a difficult end to the season with a trip to Newcastle and a home game against West Ham finishing their campaign.

"We were written off six games ago and all of a sudden Leeds and Everton were written off and now Everton aren't," said Smith. "The game can change very quickly.

"Not one of the players wants to be in the position we're in. They are searching for answers themselves. All the lads care, they just show it in different ways.

"I'm expecting fight, but I'm expecting better quality than we showed in decision-making opportunities [against Fulham]. We need points and it's a home game for us, hopefully Jurgen is not disappointed in the fight he sees."

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport at King Power Stadium

Pure desperation now from Dean Smith, throwing in Jonny Evans who has played one minute of Premier League football since 8 October.

They've got big money summer signing Harry Souttar and the experienced Daniel Amartey on the bench but Smith clearly feels those two are not up to the job against this potent Liverpool attack featuring Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz.

How times have changed for Leicester.

Image source, Getty Images

Jurgen Klopp expects "a super difficult and super intense game" against a Leicester City side fighting for Premier League survival.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Klopp said: "It was my first season I arrived here Leicester won the league. A very special story that will stay forever.

"Now the situation is obviously completely different. I saw the game against Everton. They had really good spells in the game, a really good footballing team. When you are in a relegation battle you are not the best version of yourselves and that is what makes it so difficult to be there.

"What we have to expect is a team who wants to stay in the league and will fight for that with all they have. That’s what we have to expect and what I told the boys at the start of our training week.

"This is now the real fight and we have to make sure we are ready for that. A home game for Leicester and the game after us is Newcastle so that’s not an easy game as well.

"They need all the points they can get and I expect a super difficult and super intense game to be honest. A big fight with brilliant footballers on the pitch and that makes it tricky."

Liverpool have won six successive league matches, including each of the last five by a single-goal margin. They have never won six in a row in that manner.

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport at King Power Stadium

The Premier League - it's a brutal business.

Just seven years ago, Leicester stunned the footballing world to hoist aloft the top-flight trophy in the most unimaginable circumstances.

They'd narrowly escaped the drop the previous season and are in the same position once more, with three games remaining to avoid the unthinkable of relegation to the Championship.

It has been a wretched season for the Foxes and they come into this very difficult game against in-form Liverpool after suffering a demoralising 5-3 defeat at Fulham last time out.

"You're not fit to wear the shirt," was the chant from the travelling supporters at Craven Cottage that evening and they require a major push in these final two weeks to preserve their status.

Dean Smith has lost four of his five Premier League encounters as a manager versus Liverpool

The exception was Aston Villa's 7-2 home victory in October 2020.

Leicester have the worst record in the division over the past 13 games, with one win and six points.

Leicester's tally of 21 league defeats this season is their highest since 1994-95, when they were relegated from the top flight after losing 25 times.

A 10th home loss of the season would be the joint-most in their history; it last happened in 1994-95.

Leicester have conceded 39 goals in 20 top-flight matches and could go 21 league fixtures without a clean sheet for the first time since April to December 1994.

BBC Radio Leicester

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A new episode of BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast is available now.

Owynn Palmer-Atkin is joined by the Daily Mail’s Tom Collomosse to preview the game.

Speaking on the When You’re Smiling podcast, Collomosse said: "Leicester will be looking at what Brighton and Brentford did and how they exposed weaknesses in the Liverpool team and it is a reasonable starting point.

"The problem is Liverpool’s form now is very different from what it was then.

"In 2021 Leicester had hardly any players and beat Liverpool 1-0, Ademola Lookman scored, so it is not a situation where you lose all hope."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport at King Power Stadium

Image source, BBC Sport

Significant team news for Leicester sees defender Jonny Evans return to the side following a long-term hamstring injury to make his first start since November and he captains the side.

Ricardo Pereira is back from a hamstring problem of his own and Wilfred Ndidi also comes in to the side with Caglar Soyuncu, Victor Kristiansen and Dennis Praet dropping out.

Leicester XI: Iversen, Castagne, Faes, Evans, Pereira, Ndidi, Tielemans, Soumare, Maddison, Barnes, Vardy.

Image source, BBC Sport

Liverpool make two changes to the side that beat Brentford 1-0 last time out.

Skipper Jordan Henderson comes into the side and Luis Diaz gets a start too with Diogo Jota dropping to the bench and Darwin Nunez missing out completely.

Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Jones, Gakpo, Diaz, Salah.

Send us your thoughts on tonight's game using any of the above formats.

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Leicester City will climb out of the relegation zone if they win tonight. Fail to win and survival is out of their hands.

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Liverpool were 10 points behind Manchester United a month ago but have won six successive games to close on their rivals.

They started the weekend a point behind but United's 2-0 win over Wolves on Saturday saw them move four points clear of Liverpool.

Newcastle dropped points in a 2-2 draw at Leeds to also be four points ahead with all three sides having three games left to play.

Liverpool must realistically win all three games and hope for slip-ups by either of the other two to claim a Champions League spot.