Black said: "The key to beating Liverpool at St Andrews last year was the performance of Emile. I thought he was magnificent.
"That's not taking anything away from anybody else because you don't beat Liverpool with one person. But for me I think Emile topped above the rest in terms of his overall work rate, commitment, holding up play and just being a general threat.
"Liverpool have got a lot of quality players but we've got to believe because of the previous games we've had against them that we can compete with them.
"I think there's still an integration taking place at Liverpool but the exceptional success that they had last year will undoubtedly have given them confidence.
"They have got a wealth of talented strikers. Djibril Cisse has been playing slightly wider, they've got Peter Crouch through the middle and Luis Garcia as well. With Steven Gerrard supporting from the midfield area, we know we will have to be at our best defensively on Saturday."