Finishing in second place would guarantee Liverpool automatic qualification for next season's Champions League and so Didi Hamann says the Pompey game is as important as the upcoming FA Cup final.
"Finishing second is a major target for us and we really fancy our chances. If possible we want to avoid having to play the Champions League qualifier because we know how good the teams could be in that draw and how difficult it could be to get through. That's why this weekend's game at Portsmouth is as important as the Cup final to us," Hamann told the club's official website.
"It didn't look like we had a chance of finishing second a few weeks back when United had more points than us and games in hand. But they've unexpectedly dropped points of late and we're back in with a chance now because we've been winning all of our games. We know we have to win on Sunday now and then see what happens. A draw is no good to us so we have to go for it.
"It might be a bit easier for us because Portsmouth are safe now. Harry Redknapp has done a great job in keeping them up and they've now reached their major target. If they needed more points to stay up then it wouldn't be a certainty that we'd go and win there because Fratton Park is never an easy place to play. It may be easier now they don't need to win but you can never tell.
"The important thing from our point of view is making sure we do our job. If Man United win then there's nothing we can do about it and we'll finish third, but we don't want to come off the field having lost and then hear that they've lost as well."