Downing: They've been on at us

Stewart Downing is in no doubt about how much the Wembley derby means to the Scouser on the street after listening to Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher this week. The winger has lived on Merseyside for just nine months but he knows how important beating Everton for a place in the FA Cup final is to those with Red allegiances. Downing told Liverpoolfc.tv: "Obviously Stevie , Carra and Jay Spearing, people like that, have been saying, 'Come on, we have to beat these.' "They've been on at us. You can understand that. I've played in semi-finals and against locals teams when I've been at other clubs, and people were the same there. "You can sense it, the atmosphere - seeing the fans and the kids hanging about. They're all stopping you and asking questions about the semi-final. "It's going to be a massive game and Liverpool will be like a ghost town on the day. "It's bragging rights. I sometimes hear (from fans), 'As long as we finish above Everton in the league, everything's fine.' That just shows. If you've grown up with it as a young kid it's massive. It could make their week, it could make their year. "We know what's at stake but I'm confident we can get a result." Liverpool have plenty of history against their neighbours at Wembley, including three major finals in the 1980s. But it is another Cup derby that sticks in Downing's mind - our fifth round replay in 1991 which ended 4-4 and proved to be the final game of Kenny Dalglish first reign. The England man knows people could be talking about Saturday's encounter for decades to come. "People still talk about the 4-4 game when Kenny left - I don't even know how many years ago that was!" he said. "I always remember John Barnes's goal. I used to watch a lot of him. I remember it being an end to end game. Hopefully it's not like that on Saturday and we can get a nice 2-0 win or something."They stick in history and hopefully we can win this game and write a little bit of history if we get to another final."I don't really get nervous. It's more excitement. Because it's Everton there's extra pressure but I'm really confident we can beat them. "I think we have got the better squad - we just have to prove it. We've already proved it twice - hopefully we can do it again." Downing has played in derbies in both the north-east and Birmingham - but nothing he's experienced compares to the Mersey rivalry. "It's more intense here - there's more at stake," he said. "At Middlesbrough we classed Newcastle as the derby but I don't think they did us. Birmingham v Villa was more intense than that until we scored early, then it was flat, I thought."Here you can sense the atmosphere in the ground and in the days leading up to it." Brad Jones is likely to feature in goal for the Reds due to suspensions to both Pepe Reina and Alexander Doni. The Australian, whose son Luca lost his battle with leukaemia last year, became a dad again last week. He then played his first Barclays Premier League game for Liverpool following Doni's dismissal versus Blackburn. The Australian had been sitting on the bench with former Middlesbrough teammate Downing - and the latter was confident Jones would save the penalty he was sent on to face. "It's unbelievable. Sitting on the bench, we fancied him to save it," said Downing. "I used to take penalties against Brad every day, and with Yakubu. Brad was quietly confident he could save it."I'm pleased for him. It was a good performance. I know he gave a penalty away but I think he did very well in the game. "He's not played for a long time and what he's been through - you've got to give him credit, he's kept his head down and kept working. You get rewards if you work hard. "He's a good goalkeeper. He's just unlucky that he's got Pepe Reina ahead of him. We've got confidence in him. "If you look at Brad, he's not played much, but the games he has played have been big games. He's played in semi-finals of UEFA Cups and FA Cups. He's done it before."