Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk believes Manchester United need to do themselves a favour as the Premier League title race approaches a potentially pivotal moment.
The Reds will hope United can take points off Manchester City when the two neighbours meet at Old Trafford on Wednesday night in City's game in hand.
Jurgen Klopp's side currently lead the Premier League table by two points from the Etihad side having played a game more.
United go into the encounter on the back of a humiliating 4-0 reverse at Everton on Sunday, a result that has greatly threatened their hopes of Champions League qualification.
And asked for his take on Wednesday's game, Van Dijk said: "They (United) need to do themselves a favour.
"Everton is not easy to beat at home, but 4-0 is a big result.
"We have no influence on that, but they are still playing for Champions League football and they need to get a result."
Liverpool, who won 2-0 at relegation-threatened Cardiff City on Sunday, are next in action on Friday with a home game against already-relegated Huddersfield Town.
They then travel to Newcastle United the following Saturday evening before finishing their Premier League campaign at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on May 12.
And Van Dijk knows Liverpool can only concentrate on their own matches rather than hope for a slip from Pep Guardiola's City.
"100%," he said. "That's the only thing we are going to focus on.
"We have three games left and we are going to try and win all of them. It's going to be very hard, but that's what we're looking to do.
"We did our job (at Cardiff). We had to stay patient, but it was a very mature performance and it was good to get the three points.
"Our next challenge is going to be on Friday, so we'll see."
Liverpool came through a tense first half at Cardiff on Sunday to earn a ninth successive victory and move on to 88 points from 35 games - their best tally in Premier League history.
"You try to keep a cool head and I think that's something we have improved on during the season," Van Dijk told liverpoolfc.com.
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"Just keep doing what we are doing, don't panic and we will get opportunities because we have plenty of quality in the team and no team can defend at their highest level for 90 minutes.
"So there will always be slight moments of spaces that we can exploit and I think we did it."
