my liverpool fc

Veteran defender Sami Hyypia believes Liverpool can wipe away the memory of their derby-day blunders against Everton and beat the old enemy in the FA Cup.

Everton produced a defiant performance in a 1-1 draw when the sides met in the Premier League at Anfield, and will be confident they can again confound their neighbours in the cup's fourth round on Monday (AEDT).

But Hyypia believes Liverpool will give a better account of themselves second time around.

The Finn was frustrated with Liverpool's inability to hold on to their one-goal lead five days ago, when Tim Cahill headed home a late equaliser.

With a place in the fifth round now at stake, the defender is expecting a much-improved performance against the Reds' cross-city rivals.

He said: "Hopefully we can play our own game this time, pass the ball better and create more chances.

"We were disappointed to lose a late goal in the first game and there were a lot of disappointed faces in our dressing room afterwards.

"It was a normal derby in the sense there were lots of challenges and a number of misplaced passes, but I'm hoping we can improve for the second meeting.

"I think Everton will come and look to play the same way. They will work very hard, they will close us down and they will be dangerous from set-pieces.

"We were disappointed with how many set-pieces we gave them in dangerous areas on Monday night. We gave too many fouls away and in the end it cost us."

With Liverpool facing a crucial league clash at Wigan just three days later, it is possible manager Benitez will make changes for this weekend's clash.

But Hyypia believes Liverpool's extra squad depth will result in the tie swinging in their favour.

He said: "There are not many days between the two games for the players to recover, but if you look at the two squads then maybe we have more options.

"Everton have a lot of injuries and can't change their team as much as we can, but we'll have to wait and see what happens."

There is little doubt that the cup tie will be overshadowed by yet another potential takeover saga at Anfield.

With the club's American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett involved in talks with the super-rich Kuwaiti Al-Kharafi family, the task of overcoming Everton could be a major distraction.

But Benitez wants his players to concentrate on producing the right reaction to Monday's disappointing draw.

The Spaniard, who insists skipper Steven Gerrard is in the right frame of mind to play despite his court appearance yesterday, said: "It is always important that you respond well if you suffer a disappointment.

"I have been really pleased with the last two training sessions we have had because the attitude of the players has been really positive.

"We have been analysing Monday night's game and we know that we made some mistakes. So we will try to adjust the small details that can make such a big difference.

"But it is important to remember that we drew on Monday night, we did not lose the game and we have not lost any game for more than two months."

He added: "We were not playing to our level on Monday night, we know that. But we still could have won the game and had it not been for a mistake with just a few minutes to go we would have done.

"This means that if we play the way that we know we can then clearly we must have a good chance of winning the cup tie."

Benitez has not considered resting Gerrard following the court appearance.

He said: "Steven was working as normal in training and he was scoring goals and you could see the spirit was there that he always has.

"Steven is in the right frame of mind. I have watched him in training and he is fine."