KENNY DALGLISH insists his derby debutants will rise to the occasion as he demanded “total commitment” at Goodison tomorrow.

The Liverpool boss is expected to field no fewer than six players who have never played in the fixture before.

However, Dalglish insists the likes of Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Jose Enrique won't be fazed by the challenge facing them.

“I don’t think there is anybody who will be involved with us on Saturday who will be undermined or surprised by what they come up against,” he said.

“I think the Rangers/Celtic derby will have given Charlie a good grounding. For Andy, the North East derby isn’t to be undermined, and for Stewart Villa against Birmingham isn’t the smallest of derbies, is it?

“Even for Luis (Suarez), the derby he was involved in in Holland will have been frenetic as well. Every derby starts the same way.

“They may not have experienced one of these derbies before but everybody has experienced a derby of some sort.

“We all know what a victory in the derby means to the people of Liverpool and how much elation the players would get from it.

“There are some players who haven’t played in it before but I’m sure they understand what this football club stands for.”

Dalglish has vowed to take the game to the Blues as Liverpool look to build on last weekend’s 2-1 victory over Wolves.

“The most important thing for us is to be confident, composed and have belief we can win the game,” he said.

“It’s up to us to get that into our players and get them to believe it.

“We’ll need to be totally committed to getting a result. We know we have to be otherwise we won’t get anything. Preparations have gone excellently well and we’re looking forward to it.”

The team spirit Dalglish has fostered at Anfield was underlined this week when the players and their families met for a meal at the Albert Dock.

“The players organised it themselves,” Dalglish added.

“Any football club needs a heart and soul in it and most of that comes from the players, their relationship between each other.

“It’s important we have a good dressing room. I don’t believe there has ever been a football club that’s been successful that hasn’t had a good dressing room.”

Daniel Agger has resumed training but won’t be considered for selection and Glen Johnson will also be missing.

Skipper Steven Gerrard is likely to be on the bench with Dalglish expected to resist the temptation to hand him a first start of the season.

“The game is not the important thing – Steven Gerrard is more important,” he said.

“As we’ve said before, we’ll manage Steven as well as we possibly can.”

Meanwhile, Jonjo Shelvey is expected to join Blackpool on loan.

The 19-year-old midfielder has been on the fringes this season and Liverpool are keen for him to gain further experience. He will join former team-mates Thomas Ince and Gerardo Bruna.