LAWRO: DARS IS DANGERMAN

LIVERPOOL legend Mark Lawrenson believes Manchester City will struggle to tame Darwin Nunez.

The Uruguay international has scored 14 goals in all competitions, one off his combined total of 15 in his debut campaign for the Reds.

Lawrenson (right) won five league titles at the heart of Liverpool’s defence.

He said: “Defenders hate to play against him – he is lightning quick and so direct. And, with him becoming more confident, his finishing is getting better all the time.

“He’s so difficult to play against as, when you’re the defender, you’ve got to take a step back. You’ll always be frightened in a one-on-one race of losing. “With Nunez, the fans took to him because he was working so hard and now he’s improving all the time. He’s definitely become a cult figure and the turning point was probably those two goals against Newcastle when they were down to 10 men. “For a while he must have felt like a bit-part player because he wasn’t always involved. The pressure of being bought for such a big fee is also tough. “But you can see that he now really feels part of the team. Jurgen Klopp will have had an arm around him and I think Nunez now feels completely at home.”

Lawro, 66, believes experienced heads, such as Virgil van Dijk, will help keep Klopp’s young stars calm in such an important fixture.

He added: “Van Dijk has found his form again from those early years at Liverpool when he was invincible and he’s doing a fantastic job guiding the kids.

“His experience is massive in a game like this. It’ll be a case of who blinks first – and it’ll be played at such a high intensity.

“The creative players won’t get time on the ball and will have to get rid quickly.

“It’s going to be a mouth-watering game between the best two sides.”