Following Liverpool's horrendous start to the Premier League campaign at the weekend, there have been concerns that Brendan Rodgers' men could continue their struggles in Europe. However, Liverpool legend Graeme Souness disagrees with such views, claiming that the Reds will be far too strong for their opponents Hearts on Thursday night.

It would be fair to say that Liverpool struggled in their first leg tie in the previous qualification round of the Europa Cup, after only managing to scrape a 1-0 victory against FC Gomel. However, they did manage to perform much more successfully in the second leg and after recording a 3-0 win, expectations for the new campaign were high. Still, following the defeat to West Brom at the weekend, some supporters have doubted just how seriously Rodgers will take Europe with the club's league form clearly needing extra attention.

However, according to Souness, there shouldn't be any worries. Speaking to the media, the former Reds captain said, “I just feel Liverpool will have too much quality in too many areas and I think that will decide the tie. Hearts would need more than half the Liverpool team to have two off nights to have a chance. There is a gulf between the Premier League in England and the SPL in Scotland right now. Although Liverpool aren’t the force they were, they’re still arguably the second biggest club in England.”

It is already being reported that Rodgers will rest several players for the tie, with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Glen Johnson and Martin Skrtel supposedly not even traveling to Scotland. With Jose Enrique also still injured, Rodgers is likely to turn to some of the club's younger players, while Andy Carroll could also be called upon as the club try and take the advantage to the second leg at Anfield.