SAM Allardyce has urged his Blackburn Rovers side to pile the pressure on crisis club Liverpool.

The Anfield giants could be bottom of the Premier League when they entertain Rovers on Sunday, and Allardyce is determined to take full advantage of their frailties.

Liverpool’s new owner John W Henry is expected to be at Anfield for the first time on Sunday, after finally wrestling control from the controversial Tom Hicks and George Gillett, to create an intimidating party atmosphere.

The Reds though have won just one Premier League game in eight so far this campaign, leaving them in the drop zone, with Allardyce seeing an oportunity to exploit their inevitable lack of confidence He said: “We have to go and be professional and make sure we can perform at Anfield to our very best. If we can find our very best we can cause some problems on the lack of confidence that seems to be in the side at the moment.

“All the pressure on the takeover and the money situation has obviously affected the team, like it affected Portsmouth last year who got relegated.

“Liverpool are below us. How often do you play Liverpool when they are below you?

"Very, very rarely. When we get this opportunity we have to take it if we can, as difficult as it might be.

“A lot of their players are not playing to their best and if they do start playing to their best it does make life very difficult for us.

"If we defend like we did against Sunderland though we certainly have a chance. It was a clean sheet with 10 men and that almost felt like a win.”

Rovers’ own start to the season has been tainted by defensive lapses with just two clean sheets kept all season, compared to the solid platform their top half finish was built on last campaign.

Allardyce’s men though showed signs of returning to their former selves in Monday night’s gutsy goalless draw with Sunderland, having seen skipper Chris Samba sent off just before half time.

He is now calling for more of the same for their trip to Merseyside as he looks to show no mercy for Liverpool’s misery.

He said: “The big turning point was Robbo’s save. He is an outstanding goalkeeper and was one of the key elements why we got the clean sheet and the point.

“It was good to see David Dunn back in action hopefully he can stay with us for a long time now. He has to catch up on match fitness and it was a big decision putting him on.

“We were doing excellently at that time and didn’t look like conceding but making a change like that could have opened us up a bit more and that could have been my fault and could have lost the game. We carried on defending very well though.”