Tony Pulis is plotting Jose Mourinho frustration for Jurgen Klopp

At least that's if Gerry Francis, the Baggies assistant coach, is to be believed.

Mourinho's spoiling tactics might have come in for some criticism, yet Francis feels the United boss showed how best to neutralise a Liverpool team which had scored 13 goals in its previous four league games before being held to a 0-0 draw in Monday night's north-west derby.

"I think Manchester United did very well in that they high-pressed Liverpool and stopped them playing their game, stopped them coming out from the back first half," claimed Francis. "And they were the better side first half. Obviously we will probably be looking to do similar things from that point of view."

Given Albion's recent success in frustrating the top teams – most memorably Liverpool and Klopp last season – it would be a surprise to see anything other than a defensive set-up from the visitors tomorrow.

Klopp refused to shake hands with Pulis following a tempestuous 2-2 draw at Anfield last December and rather bluntly accused his opposite number of being a long-ball merchant.

Ten months on and the German is perhaps a little more accustomed to the varied challenges of the English game. His team have certainly done enough over the opening weeks of the campaign to suggest a title challenge could well be on the cards. Yet they are far from infallible and have a tendency to concede at set-pieces – something Pulis and his team will have duly noted.

Klopp certainly has. "Everybody knows a little bit about their style of play, so there's obvious things I can say," the former Borussia Dortmund coach said.

"There will be a lot of set-pieces, 100 per cent. They are really strong at this, each Liverpool fan thinks there is one real weakness (for us) and it's set-pieces. We have to be really concentrated."

Albion's recent record at Anfield is far from shabby, with back-to-back wins in both 2012 and 2013. Two straight defeats was then followed by last year's draw, which was just one of several impressive results against the big guns.

Neither should they go into tomorrow's fixture lacking in confidence after a four-game unbeaten run.

"You've got to try and and stop these very good sides from getting into their flow, getting into the situation when they're camped inside your half, going too deep," continued Francis.

"Manchester United did that on Monday until the second half when Liverpool came onto them.

"They still had those two great chances and two great saves from (goalkeeper) David De Gea, but it's really about working really hard to stop them getting into the flow of their game.

"That takes a lot of work. Manchester United worked very hard at that. That's what you've got to do. They've got the technical ability.

"One of the things that can happen is you can go behind early on, which means you have to have to change. But it is certainly going to be a tough game for us."