Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson warned his team not to expect their trip to Manchester City to be like last season's Champions League encounter.
Jurgen Klopp's men visit the Etihad Stadium with a seven-point lead over City at the top of the Premier League, and avoiding defeat would be another step towards the title.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their past four meetings with City, including winning 2-1 in Manchester in April 2018 to seal a 5-1 aggregate success in the Champions League quarter-finals last season.
But Robertson said Thursday's clash would be different, with Pep Guardiola's men not needing to be so attacking this time around.
"The difference is that they obviously had to win by four goals that night and they only need to win by one on Thursday," he told UK newspapers.
"They're a fantastic team, a very experienced team and they've been in this position before. They've won the title. It's something that we've never had.
"They'll be looking to go full throttle into us. We'll be wary of that but we need to be at our best. If we are, we can cause any team problems."
2018 was a memorable year for the Reds.
Let's make 2019 even better!! #ThisMeansMorepic.twitter.com/6J55eX5zD5— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 31, 2018
Liverpool go into the encounter on the back of eight straight wins in all competitions, while City have faltered with two defeats in three games.
Robertson, whose team thrashed Arsenal 5-1 on Saturday, acknowledged the importance of the clash.
"Of course it's a huge game. If we win then we're 10 points clear of them and of course that's huge," he said. "But also on the flip side they'll be looking to close the gap to four points.
"We play the way the game tells us to play. Arsenal were quite open and we took advantage of that.
"They also took advantage of us being open for the first goal so we have to look at the goal [we conceded] because it was not good enough, but the way we played was attacking and we scored the goals."
