The last time Martin Skrtel lined up in direct opposition to Wayne Rooney the England forward was on the wrong end of a 4-1 mauling. It was Liverpool's best result at Old Trafford for 73 years and, sandwiched by a 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid and a 5-0 demolition of Aston Villa, Skrtel's account of the last fortnight is an accurate gauge of the renewed sense of optimism at Anfield. "It has not just been the best two weeks of my career," he says. "It has been one of the best periods of my life."

Whether it can get even better tomorrow when Skrtel renews acquaintances with Rooney at Wembley is, by his own admission, difficult to imagine given the imbalance of talent between the England and Slovakia national teams. Yet Rooney and his colleagues will also know they have to work hard to get past the ­combative, shaven-headed, 6ft 4in centre-half who has become so increasingly influential in Liverpool's reinvigorated title challenge.

"It's just a pity that we have had the interruption [the international break] at this time," says Skrtel. "Ideally we would have liked to carry on with the league because we are in such great form whereas Manchester United have been going through their weakest period of the season.

"We just have to hope that everyone stays healthy and when we get back together we can carry on where we left off, winning matches and putting the pressure on United. Because we do think that 4-1 win might have been their breaking point. Their lead was seven points at the time but now it is only one point so, psychologically, we are in a much better position than before. We feel very strongly that we have a good chance to win the title now."

Skrtel's words can be taken as a measure of the confidence flooding through Anfield on the back of the club's recent revival, combined with the news that Rafael Benítez has finally signed his new contract and, of course, United's slump in form.

"When you score four past Manchester United and five past Real Madrid and Aston Villa, it's something special," Skrtel, speaking through an interpreter, continues. "From a defender's point of view, we have conceded only one goal in those three games and that was a penalty.

"We have put the pressure on United and then they had a weak performance in their next game [the 2-0 defeat to Fulham last Saturday]. There are always periods in every season when a team is not as strong as they would like to be and, as I say, this might have been their breaking point. Hopefully this will give us the advantage in the end."

With the exception of a 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough, when Skrtel played out of position at right-back and had a torrid time marking Stewart Downing, the £6.5m recruit from Zenit St Petersburg has been one of Liverpool's more consistently impressive performers since the turn of the year. "I definitely prefer to play in the centre of defence," he says, recalling that chastening experience at the Riverside earlier this month.

"I know more than anyone that I didn't put in a good performance but that was because I'm not used to playing in that position. Overall, though, I feel I have done very well personally."

His form for Slovakia has also been one of the main reasons why they are top of Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifying group, with three wins from their first four games. "I think this is the right time for this group of players," he says. "It's never happened before that we have found such a good bunch of guys and led our qualifying group."

Nonetheless, he is not overly confident of a shock result at Wembley tomorrow. "We are a small country," says Skrtel. "If you ask the people in Slovakia they don't trust us very much."