Just over a month ago, the prospect of Liverpool going to Old Trafford with any great confidence of getting a positive result was only marginally more likely than the chances of the Stretford End singing Poor Scouser Tommy.
Having crashed out of the FA Cup at the hands of Barnsley, Liverpool were at a low ebb, having already found themselves pushed to the margins of the title race thanks to a poor run of form after New Year.
But on Sunday, they will turn up to face Alex Ferguson's men as the country's form team, having followed up their cup exit with a string of seven successive victories, including the vanquishing of Italian champions Inter Milan, home and away.
It is this dramatic upturn in fortunes which makes Dirk Kuyt believes there is every chance of Liverpool getting a result at Old Trafford in a game in which the Dutchman believes the reigning English champions will see just how much their North West rivals have improved.
"It's a game we are all looking forward to," he said. "We are on a good run, having won our last seven games in a row, so it's nice to have Man United at this moment.
"It is a big game so hopefully we will show how much we have improved over the last couple of months.
"Everybody, apart from Daniel Agger, is fit so that is very good for us.
"We feel very strong at the moment. Even when we played Reading last week we did not play at our best but you could still see there was quality in the team.
"It can only be a good sign when you are even winning the games you haven’t played well in and that give us great confidence for the weekend."
United have already beaten Liverpool once this season when Carlos Tevez scored the only goal of a disappointing game at Anfield.
On that occasion, United reinforced their title credentials by securing a vital victory, even though their level of performance was not at its highest.
Kuyt is in no doubt that the challenge will be just as difficult when the two sides meet again on Sunday, particularly with Cristiano Ronaldo in such outstanding form.
But he also believes United will face a different Liverpool to the one they came up against last December.
"United are obviously one of the toughest teams to play in the league," he said.
"They have got quality players in attack but they also have good players in defence and a great goalkeeper, so it will be a tough game. But we will be ready for it.
"Everybody knows that Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the league and he will be really tough, but they also have Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez, who are great players.
"But I think everyone at Liverpool is looking forward to it.
"We know we will have to work really hard but we have individual quality ourselves.
"We have players who can make and score goals and we have the confidence that we can do that."
While Liverpool have been unable to keep pace with United in the race for the title, Fernando Torres has been keeping up with Ronaldo in the race to be the country's top scorer.
As things currently stand, Ronaldo has 22 goals to his name, with Torres just two goals behind.
And Kuyt is backing his Anfield team-mate to grab another one on Sunday at one of the toughest venues in the Premier League to show that Liverpool are now a different proposition to the one which succumbed to Barnsley just five weeks ago.
He said: "It looks like Fernando is scoring a goal every game now so at least we will score on Sunday at the very least. That would be nice.
"We know that we can score in every game now and we have had quite a few clean sheets in the last few weeks as well, so we know that we are better than we were a month or so ago."
Liverpool took the advantage in the battle for that all important fourth spot last weekend when they recorded a vital 2-1 win over Reading the day before rivals Everton lost to Fulham.
Kuyt knows the only way Liverpool can guarantee that they hold off the challenge from their Mersey neighbours is if they win every game from now until the end of the season – and because of this he is adamant that they will be looking for nothing but a victory at Old Trafford.
He said: "It will be difficult but we know that we can beat them.
"We have to look for the win because we are trying to get fourth place in the league, so that means trying to win every game we play between now and the end of the season.
"So we will be going for the win and then we will see what happens."
Liverpool have come a long way in a very short space of time. Now they face the ultimate test of their renewed confidence and much improved form.
But at least they are going to Old Trafford with a genuine belief they can get a result – and that is progress in itself.
Having crashed out of the FA Cup at the hands of Barnsley, Liverpool were at a low ebb, having already found themselves pushed to the margins of the title race thanks to a poor run of form after New Year.
But on Sunday, they will turn up to face Alex Ferguson's men as the country's form team, having followed up their cup exit with a string of seven successive victories, including the vanquishing of Italian champions Inter Milan, home and away.
It is this dramatic upturn in fortunes which makes Dirk Kuyt believes there is every chance of Liverpool getting a result at Old Trafford in a game in which the Dutchman believes the reigning English champions will see just how much their North West rivals have improved.
"It's a game we are all looking forward to," he said. "We are on a good run, having won our last seven games in a row, so it's nice to have Man United at this moment.
"It is a big game so hopefully we will show how much we have improved over the last couple of months.
"Everybody, apart from Daniel Agger, is fit so that is very good for us.
"We feel very strong at the moment. Even when we played Reading last week we did not play at our best but you could still see there was quality in the team.
"It can only be a good sign when you are even winning the games you haven’t played well in and that give us great confidence for the weekend."
United have already beaten Liverpool once this season when Carlos Tevez scored the only goal of a disappointing game at Anfield.
On that occasion, United reinforced their title credentials by securing a vital victory, even though their level of performance was not at its highest.
Kuyt is in no doubt that the challenge will be just as difficult when the two sides meet again on Sunday, particularly with Cristiano Ronaldo in such outstanding form.
But he also believes United will face a different Liverpool to the one they came up against last December.
"United are obviously one of the toughest teams to play in the league," he said.
"They have got quality players in attack but they also have good players in defence and a great goalkeeper, so it will be a tough game. But we will be ready for it.
"Everybody knows that Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the league and he will be really tough, but they also have Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez, who are great players.
"But I think everyone at Liverpool is looking forward to it.
"We know we will have to work really hard but we have individual quality ourselves.
"We have players who can make and score goals and we have the confidence that we can do that."
While Liverpool have been unable to keep pace with United in the race for the title, Fernando Torres has been keeping up with Ronaldo in the race to be the country's top scorer.
As things currently stand, Ronaldo has 22 goals to his name, with Torres just two goals behind.
And Kuyt is backing his Anfield team-mate to grab another one on Sunday at one of the toughest venues in the Premier League to show that Liverpool are now a different proposition to the one which succumbed to Barnsley just five weeks ago.
He said: "It looks like Fernando is scoring a goal every game now so at least we will score on Sunday at the very least. That would be nice.
"We know that we can score in every game now and we have had quite a few clean sheets in the last few weeks as well, so we know that we are better than we were a month or so ago."
Liverpool took the advantage in the battle for that all important fourth spot last weekend when they recorded a vital 2-1 win over Reading the day before rivals Everton lost to Fulham.
Kuyt knows the only way Liverpool can guarantee that they hold off the challenge from their Mersey neighbours is if they win every game from now until the end of the season – and because of this he is adamant that they will be looking for nothing but a victory at Old Trafford.
He said: "It will be difficult but we know that we can beat them.
"We have to look for the win because we are trying to get fourth place in the league, so that means trying to win every game we play between now and the end of the season.
"So we will be going for the win and then we will see what happens."
Liverpool have come a long way in a very short space of time. Now they face the ultimate test of their renewed confidence and much improved form.
But at least they are going to Old Trafford with a genuine belief they can get a result – and that is progress in itself.
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