The clubs clash tomorrow lunchtime, with Liverpool hoping to stop the champions achieving five successive home league wins over the Merseysiders, the first time in their history United will have achieved such a feat.

The Barclays Premier League showdown will decide whether Liverpool have any realistic chance of claiming the trophy.

And Reds goalkeeper Reina underlines the massive task Liverpool face.

He said: "They have spent a lot of money in the last few years and that makes a big difference.

"When you spend more than £100million it is a plus and makes you even stronger than you already are.

"Carlos Tevez was a big price, Wayne Rooney was big money, Dimitar Berbatov the same. How can you compete with that? It is almost impossible.

"These kind of teams with such power in attack, with players with that quality are always difficult to handle."

But Reina reckons Liverpool have an impressive attacking threat, and can pull off a major shock.

He said: "We can attack as well and that is why we can win. But it is difficult to compete and to face Manchester United when they have a really strong squad.

"They can use different players in any game. It is always tough to play them."

If Reina keeps a clean sheet at Old Trafford - or in the next four games - he will break a record held by Ray Clemence of achieving the quickest 100 clean sheets in the club's history.

Clemence did it in 200 games, while Reina is on 99 in 195 games.

Current form between the clubs is not on Liverpool's side, having not won at Old Trafford for five years and never under boss Rafael Benitez.

And forward Dirk Kuyt accepts the difficulty of the situation, saying: "It is going to be hard, very hard for us.

"We have dropped points recently, whereas United haven't. They have won every game since Christmas.

"But we cannot give up on anything. None of us. If we can win it would close the gap, give us a boost and keep our chances alive.

"That would put pressure on them, but we would still have to hope they make some mistakes in their remaining games."

But he added: "We have shown this season that we can do well against the big teams. Of the big four we have the best record of matches between ourselves.

"We have beaten Chelsea twice, drawn at Arsenal and beaten United earlier in the season. That is encouraging for us.

"We have shown that also in Europe. We have beaten Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, all away from home. So it is not impossible to win at United.

"We have not won there for five years and we know we have not done ourselves justice in those games. Now would be the perfect occasion to put that right."