Marco Silva is adamant Everton will take no fear into the Merseyside derby as they attempt to end the club's 19-year winless streak at Anfield in the Premier League.
Liverpool have dominated at home in the top flight for almost two decades and are unbeaten in the last 17 meetings between the pair in all competitions.
Everton, sixth in the table, have increased hope of snapping the hoodoo with a run of five wins in seven Premier League matches.
Silva respects Sunday's opponents but insisted the spectre of history has no influence on his side's mental state.
"My players know the 'fear' word or something like that does not go inside our dressing room. Never," Silva said.
"Ambition is always there. Enjoying the moment is important as well. We have to be strong in all the moments of the match to compete against them.
"Winning the match is something that stays in our mind as well, and nothing more."
Ahead of his maiden Merseyside derby, Silva believes Everton's best chance of inflicting Liverpool's first loss of the league campaign is to focus on themselves.
"What I want is to see our team be ourselves," the former Watford boss said. "Nothing different to what we did in the big games we have already played.
"This is what I want to see again and I'm sure it's what our fans want to see as well: our team to be ourselves, fighting to achieve a good result and to win the match.
"Nothing changes because we achieved the sixth position in the last match or not. For us the next match will be special because it's a derby, but it's the next match."
