'The atmosphere will be unbelievable - let's start strongly'

Jürgen Klopp’s team resume their campaign on Monday having reeled off four consecutive Premier League victories before the international break.

The visit of United will mark the first time the Reds have played an evening game at the newly-redeveloped Anfield, where Leicester City and Hull City have been beaten 4-1 and 5-1 respectively in Liverpool’s two previous home outings this season.

Henderson believes a special Anfield night could be in store and he has called on his teammates to pick up where they left off before the latest round of international fixtures, when a superb second-half performance turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win at Swansea City.

Henderson relishing United clash

“It’s a game that everyone wants to be involved in. I’m sure we’ve had a good couple of days now to prepare for it and focus on what we have been doing in the last few weeks,” the skipper told Liverpoolfc.com.

“I think we’ve been brilliant, working really hard, the training has been brilliant, so we need to get back doing that after the international break and be ready for Monday.

“I think we can take confidence from a lot of the games we have played. No matter who we have played, I think we have dominated games for long periods of time.

“The Swansea game was a little bit different and we didn’t start as well as we had been, but I thought we did really well, especially in the second half, and that’s the sign of a good team. 

“It was a really pleasing win and hopefully that can give us the confidence to go on and make sure we start well on Monday. That will be a big factor in the game, making sure that we start well, and if we do that it will put us in a good position to go on from there and win the game.”

The 16-day gap between Liverpool’s win at the Liberty Stadium and the clash with United means the meeting between two of English football’s fiercest rivals is arguably even more eagerly-anticipated than usual among Reds fans.

Henderson is eager to take inspiration from the vociferous support he and his teammates will receive from the Anfield faithful, but is also well aware of the importance of the home side keeping their cool.

“I think the atmosphere will be unbelievable so I don’t think it will be one when you need to get yourself pumped up for it,” he added.

“You’ll be dying to get out onto the pitch and when you are warming up you’ll start to feel that atmosphere starting to get lively. 

“But for us as players it’s another Premier League game that we want three points in, that we want to have another good performance in, and we want to keep doing the things that we have been doing well and keep progressing as a team. That’s got to be the main focus. 

“You can get pumped up for games and sometimes you can cross the line very easily really. 

“In big games when the adrenaline is pumping I think now and again you can cross the line, so it’s about making sure you are calm and using that in the right way.”