Dan: Another United winner? Amazing...

Just three minutes had elapsed in the two sides' first league meeting of the season when the Reds' No.15 expertly redirected a header from across the penalty box into the corner of the net.

The early strike was enough to secure three points and an early sense of significance as the club marked the 100th anniversary of Bill Shankly's birth in the perfect way last September.

In notching the crucial goal at Anfield that day, Sturridge had made the decisive contribution for the third match in succession and created a platform for a campaign in which he has flourished.

Ahead of the return fixture at Old Trafford on Sunday, Liverpoolfc.com asked the prolific 24-year-old to consider what his emotions might be should history repeat itself.

"It would be amazing," he responded. "I'll go out there and do my best. I'm just doing my job and going out there to do the best that I can for my teammates and the club.

"It's a big game - I'm looking forward to it very much. I can't wait to get out on the field and try to get the job done.

"We're feeling optimistic and feeling confident about it; we're looking forward to getting stuck into the last 10 games.

"They'll be very determined, no doubt about that. They're not going to want us to be successful. It's important that we understand how much it means to them for us to fail.

"I understand how much it means to them. I understand how much it means to me to want to beat them."

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Expanding on his recollections of the previous Barclays Premier League encounter between the country's two most decorated clubs, Sturridge shared memories of 'a great feeling'.

The striker continued: "It was one of those where you're setting your bar and showing people what you can do. When we won the game, it was a great feeling for the boys and a great feeling for me to score.

"It was amazing; it was one of those occasions where we went out and knew it was going to be a big game. At the beginning of the season, it was a huge game."

With 28 games completed last season, Brendan Rodgers' charges trailed eventual champions United by 29 points; this time around, it's the Reds who hold an advantage of 11 over their rivals.

"It suggests that the philosophy the manager installed at the beginning is setting in now," Sturridge, who registered on the scoresheet in the corresponding 2012-13 fixture, concluded.

"The boys are going out there with confidence, we're playing as a team, we're working as a team - that's what it's all about."