Graeme Souness and Gary Neville clashed ahead of Liverpool's game against Manchester United after the former Reds captain expressed his confidence in the hosts' chances at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp's side have suffered an indifferent season as they sit outside the top four going into the closing stages of the Premier League game. They will be buoyed by the results on Saturday that saw their rivals, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, drop points away from home.
A win for Liverpool would see them leapfrog the Magpies into the top five and go within seven points of the Red Devils. They sit third, chasing Manchester City and Arsenal in Erik ten Hag's debut season in charge.
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Souness expressed his confidence ahead of the showdown between England's two biggest clubs. He said: "Normally you would just focus on what you have to do and where Liverpool are, this game comes at the perfect time.
"What an opportunity to put a marker down, to shut all the doubting Thomas’ up, and damage United. The priority for Liverpool is to turn up today.
"It was only 12 days ago when Liverpool played Real Madrid here and people were saying they were back in that first 45 minutes - okay, they fell apart in the second half - but Liverpool are capable of that, they did it 12 days ago, and I fully expect them to turn up today.
"It’s the longest time it’s been that I’ve been this comfortable about a Liverpool win against United as I am today," he revealed. "I just feel like they’ll turn up today and be bang on it. You ask these two chaps [Roy Keane and Gary Neville] if it’s easy to play here if you’re a United player, this is a difficult place for United to come and the crowd will play a part today as well."
However, the former United defender couldn't resist a wry smile at his fellow pundit as the former Liverpool boss exuded confidence.
Sunday marked a Premier League return for Manchester United a week after ending their trophy drought. Neville suspects that there could be some concern for the hosts should they go behind which the Red Devils can exploit.
He said: "I think Manchester United should be really confident coming into this game. Look, they’re going to have to withstand the pressure.
"The atmosphere, all the things like Liverpool have got a lot of very good players, but Manchester United’s midfield is better and they’ve got a lot of experience in there - they’re tough this Manchester United group now, there’s players in there who won’t be fazed by coming here.
"If they can get through that first half an hour there is a vulnerability in Liverpool that if United were to score and punch them I think there could be a few nervous faces around this ground, including Graeme Souness, even with his confidence."
Souness rebuked: "The crowd will not allow that to happen. You say you’ve got some big players, you’re correct - some, not all big players.
"This, and I don’t know why you’d say this is not the biggest test for them, coming here for any United team in my time playing football, my time involved with this football club, this was always our biggest game. This is a big test for your team today."
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