Liverpool are likely to face a nine-point deduction if its parent company Kop Holdings goes into administration next week, BBC Sport understands.
League rules say a points deduction can be used if a parent company insolvency is caused by the club's management.
Sources suggest owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett would struggle to argue that the running of the football club had not affected the holding company.
Liverpool could enter administration if a sale is not agreed by 15 October.
If Hicks and Gillett manage to block a £300m takeover of the club by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, their holding company could be put into administration by the Royal Bank of Scotland over their £280m debts.
The Premier League board of chief executive Richard Scudmore, chairman Sir Dave Richards and secretary Mike Foster would then decide whether to dock points.
Liverpool are already in the bottom three of the Premier League after a dismal start to the season with just six points from their opening seven games.
Initially it was thought that the club would avoid a sporting penalty, but the club now faces the very real possibility of a deduction if a sale to NESV is delayed.
And it is now thought that Hicks and Gillett could find it hard to argue that the football club had not had a negative impact on Kop Holdings, especially when the club is the parent company's sole asset.
Liverpool's fate rests on the outcome of a declaratory judgement in the High Court on a date yet to be decided next week over whether the club can be sold to NESV despite the objection of the club's owners.
An appeal is likely regardless of the result, with no outcome likely before the 15 October refinancing deadline set by RBS, the club's major creditor. RBS will have the choice to waive their demand for repayment until the legal dispute is finalised, or call in the debt and place the parent company into administration.
Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to enter administration earlier this year and automatically received a nine point reduction, condemning it to relegation.
Liverpool is solvent and has been used to service Kop Holdings' debts, while in a similar case, West Ham avoided a penalty when its holding company went into administration last year. However, the club was just one of several interests in the portfolio of by Straumur, the Icelandic bank.
Meanwhile, John Henry and the other directors of NESV are expected to pass the league's new 'owners and directors' test, making official approval of the takeover a formality.
