Liverpool, England (My Sportsbook) - When Liverpool hosts Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday they will be looking to snap a four-game losing skid, and also put themselves back in the Premiership title picture.

Manager Rafael Benitez has come under considerable pressure in recent weeks as his side has slid to eighth place in the league table and has lost two of its first three games in Champions League play.

Liverpool is already seven points back of leaders United, but they have a major opportunity to turn their season around with a win, and United midfielder Paul Scholes knows that his team must be wary of Liverpool's desperation.

"Obviously they're going through a bit of a sticky patch at the moment but they'd be looking at this game as an opportunity to turn things around," Scholes said. "In fact, it's probably the perfect game for them to try and bounce back from the problems they've had."

Part of Liverpool's issues are due to the fact that the team has not had the services of its two top players, captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Torres, for the past few weeks.

Both are battling groin injuries and their status for Sunday's match is still very much in question, while United's Wayne Rooney may also be a spectator due to a calf problem.

The fixture is also important to United, which lost both meetings between the two sides last season, and would like to exact a measure of revenge.

However, manager Sir Alex Ferguson has played down the notion of revenge and he feels as though in these types of games, anything can happen.

"I don't think that's the case at all," Ferguson said of his team looking for revenge. "Games are shaped by different circumstances. You can't look at last season as a barometer of our form or Liverpool's form. A derby is a derby. Strange things happen."

Benitez and his side are certainly under more pressure to produce a win, but the boss believes that staying calm and not looking too far ahead will be key if his team is going to emerge from the contest with three points.

"The main thing going into these games is that you stay calm," Benitez said. "You cannot afford to think too much about if you win or lose before you've even played the game. That doesn't help."

"We can learn from the experience of last year.

"We have talked about the games we drew, but also know that United lost more games than us and still won the league."

Liverpool lost just twice last season but still finished four points back in the title race. However, a fifth loss to start this season might leave them out of the picture all together.

Chelsea slipped one point back of United with its loss to Aston Villa last weekend, but the Blues will try to rebound with a win at home against Blackburn on Saturday, while third-placed Tottenham entertains Stoke City.

Arsenal is only four points off the pace with a game in hand and the Gunners visit West Ham on Sunday, Manchester City hopes to maintain its top-five position with a home victory against Fulham, Aston Villa tries to build on its big win over Chelsea with an away victory at Wolverhampton and seventh-placed Sunderland meets up with Birmingham at St Andrews Stadium.

Burnley and Wigan are separated by two points in the middle of the table and they square off at Turf Moor, Portsmouth travels to Hull City with both sides in the bottom three, and Everton tries to extend its four-game unbeaten run in the league when they invade Bolton.