If there is any danger of anyone connected with Liverpool becoming over-confident about their chances of beating Manchester United tomorrow, the mere mention of John O'Shea's name should be enough to burst their bubble.
The Irish international utility man remains the only player to have scored a league goal for Liverpool against United during Rafa Benitez's four-year reign as Reds boss.
The scrappy own goal O'Shea scored at Old Trafford in September 2004 will not live long in the memory for anyone who witnessed it, nor will it inspire too many dreams of daring deeds when Liverpool visit the home of their north west rivals tomorrow.
This will be Benitez's eighth attempt to get one over on Alex Ferguson in Premier League combat and he is hoping Liverpool's fortunes finally change after a run of hard luck stories in a fixture which he believes is one of the biggest in world football.
"Every game is a big game at this stage of the season," said the Spaniard.
"But United is a massive game because of the rivalry between the two clubs and the fans and the history of the two clubs. We will be trying to do our best.
"When you play against United, you know that you are playing against very good players.
“Always in games like this I say the same thing, the small details can make a big difference.
"We have been good against United in some games but we have not managed to get the result we have wanted.
"As a manager you must be disappointed because every game that we play against them we are really close so we need to win.
"I remember one game when (Djibril) Cisse had a good chance when it was 0-0 but could not score and United scored late on.
"Then, a couple of seasons ago we again had chances but could not score and we conceded a last minute goal from a Rio Ferdinand header.
"Sometimes it has come down to a little bit of luck and sometimes it has come down to the fact that they are a good team.
"We are playing well and we have confidence, so if the team keeps on playing as well it has been and working as hard as it has been, then I feel we have a chance of scoring and winning.
"I think we can beat them. It will be difficult, but we will do our best."
As befitting a team which has won its last seven games on the run, confidence is one commodity which is certainly not in short supply at Liverpool.
Throughout the week leading up to tomorrow's game, several Reds stars have spoken of their belief that they can go to Old Trafford and come away with all three points.
Their belief has of course been fuelled by the form of Fernando Torres who became the first Liverpool player since Robbie Fowler to score 20 league goals in a season.
The £20m striker is on the hottest of hot streaks, as evidenced by the fact that he now trails Cristiano Ronaldo – arguably the player of the season – by just four goals.
In one of the strange quirks of football, despite the fact that he is scoring against pretty much everyone else in the game at the moment, Ronaldo is yet to get his name on the scoresheet against Liverpool, the team, incidentally, he supported as a boy.
The pair go head-to-head in tomorrow's battle of the north west giants and Benitez says there is no reason why Torres' scoring streak cannot continue against United.
He said: "I have had a couple of players who have had runs like the one Torres is on at the moment.
"There was a player when I was manager at Extremadura who scored 24 goals in one season when the year before he had scored just one or two goals.
"Also, at Valencia there was Mista who also got 24, including 19 in the league, so sometimes you do have a player who is on fire and they go into almost every game believing they can score a goal.
"That is the situation now with Fernando but it is clear that he cannot score goals without the players around him.
"He could not have scored the goals he has scored without Gerrard close to him or Babel or Kuyt, or without the likes of Mascherano, Alonso and Lucas doing their jobs behind him."
With the 4-2-3-1 formation serving him so well in recent weeks, Benitez is unlikely to make any changes to the structure of his team and with no new injury worries, the line-up is expected to have a familiar look.
The only decision the Reds boss has to conjure with is whether or not to offer a recall to Sami Hyypia and move Jamie Carragher across to right back.
After all the controversy – much of it ill-judged – about rotation, the Liverpool team now has a settled look about it with several players making starting positions their own thanks to improved performance levels.
Torres' will be one of the first names on the team sheet and should his hot streak continue, he will rid his club of the spectre of John O'Shea.
But no doubt Rafa Benitez and his players couldn't care less if the Irishman put through his own goal once more – as long as it gave them the win they so desperately want.
The Irish international utility man remains the only player to have scored a league goal for Liverpool against United during Rafa Benitez's four-year reign as Reds boss.
The scrappy own goal O'Shea scored at Old Trafford in September 2004 will not live long in the memory for anyone who witnessed it, nor will it inspire too many dreams of daring deeds when Liverpool visit the home of their north west rivals tomorrow.
This will be Benitez's eighth attempt to get one over on Alex Ferguson in Premier League combat and he is hoping Liverpool's fortunes finally change after a run of hard luck stories in a fixture which he believes is one of the biggest in world football.
"Every game is a big game at this stage of the season," said the Spaniard.
"But United is a massive game because of the rivalry between the two clubs and the fans and the history of the two clubs. We will be trying to do our best.
"When you play against United, you know that you are playing against very good players.
“Always in games like this I say the same thing, the small details can make a big difference.
"We have been good against United in some games but we have not managed to get the result we have wanted.
"As a manager you must be disappointed because every game that we play against them we are really close so we need to win.
"I remember one game when (Djibril) Cisse had a good chance when it was 0-0 but could not score and United scored late on.
"Then, a couple of seasons ago we again had chances but could not score and we conceded a last minute goal from a Rio Ferdinand header.
"Sometimes it has come down to a little bit of luck and sometimes it has come down to the fact that they are a good team.
"We are playing well and we have confidence, so if the team keeps on playing as well it has been and working as hard as it has been, then I feel we have a chance of scoring and winning.
"I think we can beat them. It will be difficult, but we will do our best."
As befitting a team which has won its last seven games on the run, confidence is one commodity which is certainly not in short supply at Liverpool.
Throughout the week leading up to tomorrow's game, several Reds stars have spoken of their belief that they can go to Old Trafford and come away with all three points.
Their belief has of course been fuelled by the form of Fernando Torres who became the first Liverpool player since Robbie Fowler to score 20 league goals in a season.
The £20m striker is on the hottest of hot streaks, as evidenced by the fact that he now trails Cristiano Ronaldo – arguably the player of the season – by just four goals.
In one of the strange quirks of football, despite the fact that he is scoring against pretty much everyone else in the game at the moment, Ronaldo is yet to get his name on the scoresheet against Liverpool, the team, incidentally, he supported as a boy.
The pair go head-to-head in tomorrow's battle of the north west giants and Benitez says there is no reason why Torres' scoring streak cannot continue against United.
He said: "I have had a couple of players who have had runs like the one Torres is on at the moment.
"There was a player when I was manager at Extremadura who scored 24 goals in one season when the year before he had scored just one or two goals.
"Also, at Valencia there was Mista who also got 24, including 19 in the league, so sometimes you do have a player who is on fire and they go into almost every game believing they can score a goal.
"That is the situation now with Fernando but it is clear that he cannot score goals without the players around him.
"He could not have scored the goals he has scored without Gerrard close to him or Babel or Kuyt, or without the likes of Mascherano, Alonso and Lucas doing their jobs behind him."
With the 4-2-3-1 formation serving him so well in recent weeks, Benitez is unlikely to make any changes to the structure of his team and with no new injury worries, the line-up is expected to have a familiar look.
The only decision the Reds boss has to conjure with is whether or not to offer a recall to Sami Hyypia and move Jamie Carragher across to right back.
After all the controversy – much of it ill-judged – about rotation, the Liverpool team now has a settled look about it with several players making starting positions their own thanks to improved performance levels.
Torres' will be one of the first names on the team sheet and should his hot streak continue, he will rid his club of the spectre of John O'Shea.
But no doubt Rafa Benitez and his players couldn't care less if the Irishman put through his own goal once more – as long as it gave them the win they so desperately want.
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