Fulham coach Marco Silva does not expect to come up against a Liverpool side licking their wounds on Sunday afternoon.
A difficult period for the Reds has seen them exit both the FA Cup and Europa League, while they also lost ground in the title race courtesy of a 1-0 home defeat by Crystal Palace last week.
But rather than this being a good time to face Jurgen Klopp’s men, Silva believes they will be as dangerous as ever when they arrive at the Cottage.
“What I know, and what I'm sure of, is that they are going to react,” he explained. “We all know Liverpool, we all know that they come from a really tough result in the Premier League, of course to be out of the Europa League was really tough for them as well.
“In 10 days, they lost the chance to be in the Semi-Finals and probably to fight to be in the Final, and they lost three points that are really important for them, at Anfield which is not something that happens often.
“And we are going to face a reaction, 100 per cent sure. It’s a game that is going to demand more from ourselves than if they had won the last two games. This is my clear feeling, is the way we have been preparing ourselves.
“Of course, we don't prepare ourselves depending on what is going to be the reaction, we prepare what we want to do in the game and what we expect from them, to explore some things where they are not so strong, and to be aware of the threat that they have always.
“If you ask me if I expect a more difficult game than if the game was three weeks ago – yes. If they are going to be with the same confidence, we don't know. It’s not important to talk about it, but I think that we are going to face a team that is going to have a reaction, for sure.”
Following our battles in the Carabao Cup Semi-Finals, Sunday will be Fulham’s fourth meeting of the season with Liverpool.
The previous three have all been tight affairs, with the Reds nicking the Anfield matches by a solitary goal on each occasion, while the League Cup Second Leg ended 1-1 in SW6.
“Yes, it's true, they’ve been very, very good games,” Silva said. “Probably some of them too open for a manager to enjoy, but yes, at Anfield and at the Cottage as well, they have been really – in some moments – emotional games, in other moments entertaining.
“Tight games always, in some of them dramatic ends of the match. Anfield played a big part in it as well, the games became more emotional. But even last season, it was really tough for them to come to play at Craven Cottage, Carabao Cup this season, too.
“And, of course, we want to make life really difficult for them, we really want to give them a match, and let's hope we can get a different result than the last games that we played against them.”