UEFA CUP/Preview: Sander Westerveld, the goalkeeper bought from Vitesse Arnhem by Gerard Houllier and bombed out by the Liverpool manager 30 months later, will be watching tonight's UEFA Cup third-round tie on TV with a keen understanding of what the man who replaced him at Anfield is going through.

Jerzy Dudek, despite an uncharacteristically sloppy display in Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Fulham, is likely to start for Liverpool in Holland, but the Pole will be feeling the pressure after an error in the defeat at Middlesbough the previous week.

"Jerzy would admit his handling was poor against Fulham, but all goalkeepers make mistakes. Look at Fabien Barthez, David Seaman, even Oliver Kahn," Houllier said yesterday.

Westerveld, who was sold to Real Sociedad after Houllier bought Dudek from PSV Eindhoven and Chris Kirkland from Coventry, would agree. His last game for Liverpool featured a howler when he let a shot through his legs and they lost 2-1 at Bolton. He still feels bitter at his subsequent treatment by Houllier.

"The possibility of a new keeper arriving was going round and round in my head during the Bolton game," said Westerveld. "Then I made that mistake. I just thought 'that's it, it's over'. On the coach home I knew I'd played my last game. That was exactly the stick Houllier needed to beat me with. I knew before the game something was going on. A couple of journalists in Holland warned me that Liverpool were dealing with Dudek, and his agent has since told me they'd been negotiating for six weeks. But Houllier told me that the rumours were lies."

Houllier is likely to resist recalling Stephane Henchoz but should hand Steven Gerrard a first start since the 3-3 draw in Basle which poleaxed their Champions League prospects and prompted a stinging verbal backlash from the Liverpool manager.

"From our training I'd say we are coming out of that blip, but you wonder if the players have their minds on United," he said. "I've no regrets being in this competition rather than the Champions League. The only thing is that Champions League football would have brought more experience to my players, but Arnhem in the UEFA Cup will still be a fruitful exercise."

VITESSE ARNHEM (4-4-2; probable): Jevric; Cornelisse, Zimman, Stefanovic, Frankel; Mustapha, Classens, Levchenko, Jansen; Amoha, Peeters.

LIVERPOOL (4-4-2; probable): Dudek; Babbel, Hyypia, Traore, Carragher; Murphy, Gerrard, Hamann, Riise; Smicer; Owen.