Roy Hodgson does not anticipate either Liverpool or Manchester City suffering from a European hangover when the two sides meet on Monday evening after the boss confirmed he will recall a clutch of rested stars for the Eastlands clash.
While the Reds contested Thursday's 1-0 victory over Trabzonspor on home soil, City head into the meeting on the back of a trip to Romania where they faced FC Timisoara.
However, with the benefit of an extra day for both squads to recuperate, Hodgson isn't expecting Roberto Mancini's side to feel any ill effects of travelling.
"I suppose it's always better to play at home after a European game and not have to travel, but on the other hand there is the extra day this time for everyone to recover," he said.
"So I would be surprised if Manchester City, like ourselves, as not fully recovered."
The likes of Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Dirk Kuyt and Martin Skrtel all sat out Thursday's Europa League win over Trabzonspor, while Javier Mascherano and Daniel Agger missed out due to injury.
But Hodgson confirmed he is set to recall as many as seven players into his squad for the journey to Eastlands.
He added: "I don't know how many of the players who are going to play on Monday figured for City on Thursday night.
"But we might have a slight advantage in that we could have as many as seven players who didn't play against Trabzonspor able to play against City."
One man definitely sitting out the trip to Eastlands is Joe Cole, who begins a three-match ban following his red card against Arsenal.
The No.10 has been utilised in the second-striker role in the opening weeks of the campaign, but Hodgson is confident his side will adapt in the 28-year-old's absence.
He said: "You play to your strengths. We've been using Joe where we think he serves the team best.
"If he's not playing, someone else will come into the team and we'll try and use him where we think he serves the team best.
"I have a playing and footballing philosophy, but not necessarily hung up on a particular system. So we will organise our playing philosophy around whoever plays."
The clash with City follows on from Liverpool's opening-day draw with Arsenal at Anfield.
Despite being forced to play two of the league's strongest outfits in their first two matches, Hodgson is philosophical about the Reds' early-season fixture list.
He said: "You can have loads of theories about fixtures and when the right time to play them is, but the bottom line is you play 38 matches and you play each team home and away.
"Whenever we were scheduled to play Manchester City away, it would have been a tough game.
"We'll have to be at our best to try and get a result on Monday and hopefully we'll make it very difficult for them when they come to Anfield."
City's ranks have been swelled by several big-money signings this summer, with the likes of James Milner, Aleksandar Kolarov, Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli all lured to Eastlands.
Hodgson believes their expenditure has placed the Citizens amongst the Barclays Premier League's main contenders, though he feels such spending does bring with it the added pressure of expectation.
"If you invest that amount of money and you buy world-class players, as a lot of the players they've bought are, you would expect to do well and be a top-four team," said the Reds boss.
"If you look at the squad on paper, the quality of players they've bought and the amount of money they've spent, everybody sees them as being a very strong squad with a good chance of winning the Premier League this year.
"That's their goal and I'm sure they'd be devastated not to finish amongst the top three and play Champions League football because the owners of the club have invested such a large sum of money.
"It puts everyone at the club under a lot of pressure, especially the manager who has to try and make all of these players gel into a winning unit in a very short period of time."
Meanwhile, reporters quizzed Hodgson on whether he was envious of the financial clout available to City boss Mancini.
But the boss replied: "I'm never jealous. I am in a position I want to be in.
"I am working for a club I have always wanted to work for, and I think it is for other people to be jealous of me - not for me to be jealous of other people.
"It would be very, very sad if someone as fortunate as I have been in my career starts getting jealous of other people."
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