Kenwyne Jones is making a trans-Atlantic dash back to Wearside today on Sunderland boss Steve Bruce's orders.
The in-form frontman played just the final 15 minutes in Trinidad & Tobago's 2-2 World Cup qualifier against Mexico in Port of Spain last night and was set to catch the first available flight back to the UK today to maximise his chances of playing at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
Last month, Bruce left Jones out of Sunderland's starting line-up against Hull City after the frontman returned from international duty late in the evening on the eve of the match.
But this time Jones has caught an earlier flight to give him more time to recover from the 12-hour journey and link up with his team-mates ahead of the Liverpool game.
"Kenwyne will be getting the earlier flight back," said Bruce. "I told him that he can't play on Saturday if he doesn't. He will fly back through the night and get into London tomorrow morning, so he's still got to get back up to the North-East from there.
"But the earlier flight gets him back over here 12 hours earlier, which at least gives him more chance to recover. I'll have to see how he is when he gets back.
"It doesn't matter whether you've played in a game, played the full 90 minutes or not – if you get straight off a plane from Trinidad then you are not going to be in the best of shape."
T&T, who finished bottom of their World Cup qualifying group, went down 4-0 against Costa Rica in San Jose on Saturday, a game in which Jones played the full 90 minutes.
Jones has forged a prolific striking partnership with Darren Bent for Sunderland this season, with the T&T man contributing five of the pair's 12-goal haul. They've both scored in each of Sunderland's last two games, against Wolves and Manchester United, and Bruce would love to pair the two together again for Liverpool's visit.
"They have become a good partnership and they have proved that they are a handful for any defence," he said.
"Kenwyne has grasped the nettle just recently and done really well. We have to make sure he stays at it."
If Bruce decides not to play Jones against Liverpool, Fraizer Campbell will start alongside Bent – just as he did against Hull.