Updated 6:06am 3 June 2012

MARK LAWRENSON: Nuisance FA Cup tie is last thing Liverpool or Everton would want

These games are rarely spectacles anyway and I don’t see that changing just because they happen to be playing in the FA Cup.

It’s still a Merseyside derby and nobody wants to lose. Expect it to be cagey. In fact, expect a draw.

Which is the last thing Liverpool need when you’ve got a title to go for and a Champions League campaign ready to start up again.

Everton? Well, that won’t concern them. But it does all make me think that they could actually do quite well out of this draw.

Moyes is more than capable, as he has proved in the past, of going to Anfield and coming away with a draw.

On this occasion, he could still be suffering a severe shortage of players but when his tactics have been dictated to him because of availability, its usually worked out quite well.

There’s no reason to think he won’t go there with a 4-5-1 and maybe hedge his bets on giving his rivals that pesky extra fixture on their list.

There’s no doubt that, considering how many teams were still left in that bag when Liverpool came out first, that Moyes will be cursing his luck at being handed such a tough trip.

But aside from that, there are no problems with fixture pile-ups for them so they have no reason to be fearful of the tie.

They need to turn it in their favour and make the best of what at first seemed a bad situation. And it’s their ability to do that over and over again that has got them into such a strong position at this stage of the season.

Whatever happens, there is no denying that this is the tie of the round.

But a derby is a derby and the players will all be treating the tie the same way. In fact it’s the same way I treated the Cup final of 1986.

Just get through it and make sure you win it.

Mark Lawrenson was speaking to NICK SMITH

Share