A summit meeting between two of the Premier League's big guns is usually one of the English season's red-letter occasions, yet for both Arsenal and Liverpool, Saturday's fixture has the feel of an unwanted distraction.
Both sets of players would be forgiven if their minds are already drifting to next Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg at Anfield, where a tie still exquisitely poised after Wednesday's 1-1 draw in London will be settled.
Against that backdrop, this meeting of third and fourth in the Premier League appears almost irrelevant.
Of the two managers, it is Arsene Wenger who has most cause for consternation, and not simply because he must find a way of unlocking Liverpool's notoriously stingy defence on Merseyside next week to realise his dream of a first European title.
The Frenchman is also unable to write off Saturday's league game, given his side's title ambitions are still showing faint signs of life.
Arsenal may trail Manchester United by six points but they have yet to travel to Old Trafford and, as Wenger pointed out this week: "You think I've been fighting since the first day of the season in the championship to finish second? I want to finish first."
The pressing need for victory over Liverpool could take its toll on Arsenal ahead of their European D-Day, particularly as Rafael Benitez has little need to take unnecessary risks on Saturday.
The Merseysiders' title ambitions long since died a death and they took a giant leap towards the fourth-place finish that will ensure qualification for next season's Champions League by beating closest rivals Everton last week.
As a result, the Spaniard's priority will be to ensure his squad - and A-listers such as Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in particular - remains injury-free.
Even the psychological impact of victory on Saturday has been largely dismissed. Benitez that insisted the league will "have no influence at all" on who progresses to the semi-finals, while the players share his scepticism.
"Maybe on Wednesday Liverpool played really well, maybe on Saturday they will be not so good but it won't matter," Emmanuel Adebayor, the Arsenal striker said. "It all depends on us and how ready we are."
Wenger will at least be grateful that Adebayor has roared back into form in time for the defining period of Arsenal's season. By his own exalted standards, the Togolese had been stuck in a rut in recent weeks, having scored just once in nine matches, but he delivered a power-house performance on Wednesday, opening the scoring with a thumping header and causing havoc with his muscular and intelligent running off the ball.
Adebayor has been one of Wenger's lynchpins this season, with only Gael Clichy playing more games, but a recent break from front-line action appears to have re-energised him.
"I really needed that, because I had played all of the games during the season, even in the League Cup sometimes," he said. "At the end of the day, I was tired and the boss is there to do that [rest me]. You can see now that I am a little bit fresher than before.
"It is not that I put pressure on myself, but I have had to do the job alone because Robin van Persie got injured and then we lost Eduardo as well. Whenever the boss has asked me to do it, I have to do it but as a human being if you need a break you have to take it. Now physically I am very good."
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