Pulis praise for Stevie and Carra

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher were singled out for special praise by Tony Pulis ahead of Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final.

The Stoke manager was at Anfield on Tuesday night for the Merseyside derby and he watched as Gerrard marked his 400^th Liverpool appearance with an historic hat-trick.

But the 54-year-old was equally impressed by Carragher's solid defensive performance and was keen to emphasise the importance of the local-born duo to the club they have played for throughout their professional careers.

"I thought Gerrard and Carragher were absolutely outstanding on Tuesday night," said Pulis. "They've been two great club players and I think that today, when people and players move around a lot, it's absolutely fantastic that you've got two stalwart players playing at Liverpool. They've been outstanding players for their football club.

"Sunday will be a great tie, going to Liverpool - it's mouth-watering for us. We know how difficult it's going to be, it's a very, very tough game. Liverpool are a very good side. We've watched them the last few weeks and they've been good, especially at home.

"They were desperately, desperately unlucky to lose to Arsenal. The game should have been over in the first 45 minutes. I went and watched the derby on Tuesday night and I thought they were outstanding. I thought they played really, really well."

Stoke's FA Cup run has been the opposite to Liverpool's, with all their victories coming away from home.

For Kenny Dalglish's side, wins at Anfield against Oldham, Manchester United and Brighton mean they now have a chance to secure a return to Wembley.

"We understand how difficult it is but for the football club and for everybody concerned, it's great to be involved," said Pulis. "We haven't played one game at our place this year - all our games have been away from home, so to get to the quarter-finals has been a great achievement. It would be lovely to go one step further.

"We'll look forward to it. Liverpool are obviously favourites and rightly so, especially with a home draw. We'll go there and do our best as we always do. Everybody's fit and raring to go, everybody wants to be involved and everybody wants to be a part of it.

"We know the quality that they've got and they'll be on a massive high after a win in the derby game but we're taking 6,000 supporters there and the pressure will be on Liverpool."

Sunday will be the fourth encounter between the clubs since the season began. The first meeting was settled by a Jonathan Walters penalty at the Britannia Stadium in September.

The Reds hit back en route to Wembley and Carling Cup victory when they edged Stoke on a memorable night for Luis Suarez.

The most recent meeting finished a hard-fought 0-0 at Anfield.  

But Pulis doesn't believe the familiarity between the two sides will play any part on Sunday.

He said: "I don't think it will make a difference. You turn up and every game is different. Players are not robots; they perform differently at different times.

"We're just hoping that the 11 players that we pick play to their maximum and a little bit above and that the Gods are with us on the day because we'll need all that."