We’re celebrating Chinese New Year here in Singapore and come Saturday evening, it’s going to be an FA Cup firecracker of matches between QPR v Chelsea and Liverpool v Manchester United.

These games would already have been off the lid because of the traditional rivalries involved but the recent racism backdrop makes it certain that tensions on and off the field are going to be red hot.

Liverpool – Man United is definitely the FA Cup Fourth round tie to watch out for. Luis Suarez is out through suspension, but Patrice Evra will most likely figure.

One can only imagine the reception he will get from the Anfield faithful. My hope is that we let the football do all the talking and that the fans and players behave themselves.

The Reds will be hoping to make it two good Cup results in a week. They are already through to the Carling Cup final against Cardiff and will be aiming to get past their archrivals and progress to the next round of the Cup, where they will then be thinking that they can go all the way as well.

And after the debacle of a performance against Bolton last weekend, that is exactly what the fans deserve. Kenny, in no uncertain terms slaughtered his team in the press and called them out.

I was stumped as to how badly they performed against the Wanderers. There was no passion, no desire, no pride in the shirt and it was unacceptable.

Against United, there will be no lacking of any of this but the Liverpool players really need to put on both the performances and mindset that they showed against Man City in midweek for every single game – not just the big matches.

For me, the FA Cup is the best knockout trophy in world football apart from the World Cup, of course. There are those who think otherwise but I am not one of these people.

Walking down the tunnel at Wembley in a FA Cup final is a very special feeling. I experienced it with England as well but to do so in an FA final is really something else. So, for me, the FA Cup has not lost its glamour at all but what is sad to see is how some managers have, in recent times, disrespected it by fielding weaker sides.

The teams in the top flight especially have much different priorities nowadays. For the managers of big teams in the Premier League, such as the likes of Arsene Wenger, qualification for the Champions League is far more important than winning the FA Cup. And this is from a manager who has not won a trophy in seven years.

The bottom half teams in the BPL are not blameless either. For the managers of these clubs, the priority – rightly or wrongly – is survival in the league.

I have some very special memories of the Cup. Indeed, I was lucky to have won it twice with Liverpool. It is such a special feeling to play at Wembley and an even more incredible feeling to win it against your city rivals, which was amazing in itself because we never had a Merseyside FA Cup final before that. To repeat this again in 1989 was unbelievable.

Yes, I’ve experienced these highs in the Cup but painfully remember some low points as well. The obvious one was the 1988 Cup final loss to Wimbledon, in a game where we were heavy favorites.

Till today, I cannot understand why the referee disallowed a perfectly good goal, which should have stood. Had we scored, I have no doubts that we would have won that final.

However, it was not to be and everyone in the Liverpool dressing room was in disbelief after that game. We were all devastated and you could not put it into words. We just couldn't believe it that we’d lost.

Another low point was the 4-3 semi-final loss to Crystal Palace in 1990. Earlier in the season, we had played them off the park at Anfield and beat them 9-0 but on that day, Palace wrote their names in Cup history by becoming giant killers in one of those magical FA Cup moments that make the competition one of the most loved in the world.

On hindsight, those years starting with the FA Cup loss to Wimbledon and Palace, sandwiched by Michael Thomas’ goal for Arsenal in the last minute of the 1988/89 League season, marked massive opportunities missed for greatness for myself as a player – to achieve four consecutive League and Cup Doubles. This just goes to show how difficult and special the FA Cup really is and I hope it keeps on remaining alive and well indefinitely.