Neil Redfearn plays down significance of Sheffield United's clash with Liverpool

Both teams are neck and neck in the Women’s Championship and separated only on goal difference, with United having scored one more than their full-time opponents who won the reverse fixture 1-0 in November.

The pair are also unbeaten in their last six league matches and victory for either side in the season’s penultimate game could be enough to clinch third spot.

Asked whether or not Sunday’s fixture is his team’s biggest game of the season, Redfearn replied: “No not really because it doesn't define anything. It just adds to where we want to go.

"If you look at it from the outside in, we have done fantastic because apart from maybe Durham's hybrid model they are all full-time. We are right in among all the full-time teams on a part-time model.

“I don't think there's too much difference between the sides in ability and that's credit to Sheffield United in how they have recruited and credit to the players in how we are developing and working."

The former Leeds United, Rotherham and Doncaster Rovers Belles head coach also denied there was anything extra riding on the game on a personal level following his brief spell in charge of Liverpool in 2018, which saw him resign after just one league game in charge.

"My situation was just one of those where things were promised and it didn't work out that way," he said, “it was quite amicable.”

“It's a big game, it's a game to enjoy but it's not going to decide anything. I want the girls to play the game, not the moment.”

Blades midfielder Maddy Cusack, who grabbed her first goal of the season against Middlesbrough last weekend, said a positive result could lay down the marker for future success, with the club, who train three times a week, keen to push on towards WSL promotion in the future.

“It’s massive for us,” she said, “we want to finish the season unbeaten, we want to finish in third.

“It's a massive game and something that we need to get something out of to show we are capable of beating the bigger teams. It's a huge game for us.”