Just seven games into the new season, and Jurgen Klopp is facing a fixture his critics suggest he dare not lose.
The Liverpool manager has the odds stacked against him... and not just because his great rival Jose Mourinho arrives at Anfield knowing a Manchester United victory would create an apparently unassailable 10-point gap in the league table.
Since Mourinho arrived at Old Trafford a year ago, he has splashed a mind-boggling £340million – which is twice the amount Klopp has been given to spend on new players in his two years on Merseyside.
Given the imbalance in financial muscle, the Kop boss would be within his rights to argue such pressure and expectation is ridiculous, but on Friday, on the eve of the biggest game in English football, his attitude was rather different.
He passionately believes his team can match United, and bluntly said that the day he felt Liverpool couldn’t, was the day he would walk out of Anfield and never look back.
Asked if it was possible to compete against United’s incredible spending, he replied: “Of course it is.
“Can we dominate them for the next 20 years without spending the same amount of money? Probably not, but can we still be there? Yes, of course.
“And we want to force this. If you have a really good situation in your private life, enjoy it.
“If your neighbour has a better situation, does that mean you can’t enjoy your own situation?
“But he’s got one more car, he gets to go on one extra holiday... it’s about us becoming happy, not about others.”
Klopp is aware of the pressure on his side in this contest – and promised to embrace it.
“We want this pressure, and we don’t talk about ‘what if we lose?’
“Winning is the only thing I think about – and we are not so weak that we don’t have a chance against Manchester United.”
In fact, the German is looking beyond the weekend’s horizon, and upwards towards the stars of chasing honours... and he explained that he doesn’t need to copy Mourinho’s methods of splashing the cash to deliver them.
That’s because Klopp is confident he is the perfect man for the job he faces at Liverpool.
“Other managers have different ways to do it, other clubs have different ways to do it. We have our way,” he said.
“I don’t think I am the perfect manager, I only think I am the perfect fit for this club. I really think we are heading the right way.
“I am really convinced. If the moment ever arrives when I think we cannot be successful, and there is only consolation, I go.
“Why should I be here as some kind of caretaker until the world creates a manager who can be more successful? That makes no sense.
“If we could start again now, bringing me in, I would still have the same fire, the same passion, absolutely no problem.
“I know people don’t want to wait. We cannot change this. If you don’t want to wait, don’t wait. We want to be consistent, constant at our high level and to improve. Even when we lose a player in the future we want to bring in other players.
“That’s the benefit of a long-term project.
“I know the owners are not in doubt about me, about us, about anything.”