Sunderland hero Gary Bennett feels Liverpool no longer have a fear factor.

Bennett, who will commentate on today's clash between the two for local radio, was on the losing side 20 years ago in the FA final as Liverpool won 2-0 with goals from Michael Thomas and Ian Rush.

"It seems incredible to me that Liverpool have not won the league since we met in the FA Cup final," Bennett, who played for Sunderland for 11 years, told the Daily Express.

"If you had said that to me at the time in 1992, I would have said you had gone away with the fairies as Liverpool seemed to win everything.

"When we played them that day they were brilliant and you would have said they would continue to dominate English football, but they have been overtaken.

"Teams who play them nowadays are no longer afraid of them . There was a fear factor in the Eighties which doesn't exist now.

"If Sunderland have a go at them this weekend - and I fully expect them to - Liverpool could fold, because they have done that so often in recent years.

"The strength in depth is no longer there, even though they still have great players like Steven Gerrard."