A mouth-watering duel between Marian Pahars and Michael Owen could be the highlight of the Worthington League Cup third round clash between Saints and Liverpool at The Dell tonight (7.45).

Pahars, pictured, often described as Latvia's version of Owen, is in scorching form scoring spectacular goals in his last three games for Saints and his country while Owen proved he is back to his best with an electrifying display for England on Sunday.

Comparisons between the pocket-sized poachers are inevitable but Pahars is quick to distance himself from such talk.

He said: "It is nice to be compared to him because he is a great player but I don't feel we play the same style. He is quicker than me and he is a big star. He scored some great goals in the World Cup and if people say I am like him then that is nice as long as it is not too much.

"It seems I am always called Latvia's Michael Owen but I am just myself and want to be known for who I am. We are different types of player.

"When I played in Latvia I did not score many goals. For three years I was a midfielder not a striker and even when I moved up front I was only the third highest scorer.

"But things are going well for me right now. I have scored some good goals in the last three games and I would say the one against Derby was my best ever."

Saints have a clean bill of health for tonight's game with the suspended Mark Hughes the only absentee. Claus Lundekvam is set to return to the centre of defence with Jason Dodd reverting to right-back.

Trond Soltvedt is likely to return to midfield in place of Hughes leaving manager Dave Jones to choose between Matthew Le Tissier, James Beattie and Luis Boa Morte to partner Pahars.

John Beresford's hopes of getting match fit on loan at Birmingham have been dashed by a freak fall down the stairs at home. The Saints defender hurt the same knee which caused him to miss virtually the whole of last season.

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