Liverpool and Manchester United are expected to converse this week ahead of the clubs' Premier League meeting on Sunday in a bid to diffuse tensions ahead of the Anfield side's planned Hillsborough tribute.
Although Liverpool supporters were exonerated from being responsible for the death of 96 supporters at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final in Parliament last week, some United supporters sang "Always the victims, it's never your fault" during their home victory over Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
The chant has been sung regularly since Liverpool's infamous reaction to Luis Suárez being found guilty of racially abusing United left-back Patrice Evra in December last year, and is also aired in reference to the Heysel disaster in 1985.
Liverpool fans brandish a banner at their weekend match at Sunderland
Thirty-nine Juventus fans were killed prior to their European Cup final with Liverpool, whose fans' behaviour prompted the suspension of English clubs from competing on the continent for five years. Reds chairman John Smith then attempted to shift the blame on to Chelsea hooligans.
However the timing of the chant has been described as "deplorable" by United, who said in a statement issued at the weekend: "The manager [Sir Alex Ferguson] has made the club’s position very clear on this matter.” a United spokesperson said. “It is now up to the fans to respect that."
Suárez was banned for eight matches and fined £40,000 for racially abusing Evra
Ian Ayre and David Gill, Liverpool and United's chief executives respectively, will likely be charged with holding a 'peace summit' in what will be Liverpool's first Anfield match since a 395-page report exposed what has been one of the biggest establishment cover-ups.
Tributes will be paid to the 96 victims prior to the East Lancs derby although no plan's have been made to hold a minute's silence.
Liverpool and United, the two biggest and most successful clubs in English football history boasting a combined haul of 37 league titles and eight European Cups, also possess the most vitriolic rivalry.
Astonishingly, when United defeated Liverpool in the 1977 FA Cup final, the Red Devils' travelling hordes cheered their conquests on their lap of honour ahead of the Reds' upcoming European Cup final against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
But the rise of hooliganism in the 1980s intensified the enmity, and a minority of Liverpool fans continue to mock United's following over the 1958 Munich air disaster in which 23 people - including eight members of the renowned Busby Babes side - perished.
In 2006 the clubs met in the FA Cup fifth round in which chants about Hillsborough, Munich, Harold Shipman (the notorious serial killer who claimed dozens of victims from Manchester), then jailed Liverpool fan Michael Shields, and the recently deceased Emlyn Hughes and George Best were audible amidst a poisonous atmosphere.
United fans in the lower Anfield Road End had cups of urine and faeces tossed onto them while the ambulance holding midfielder Alan Smith, who broke his ankle when blocking a John Arne Riise free-kick, was attacked.
Both clubs held talks ahead of the next meeting eight months later at Old Trafford, with Liverpool's away section in the 'L' section decorated with pictures of the club's past achievements. However unsavoury chants continued to be aired from both sets of supporters.
Fuel is also added to the fire also via Evra and Suárez coming face-to-face for the first time since the racially abused Evra was snubbed by the racially abusive Suárez during the pre-match handshake prior to the league fixture in February. Suárez has since labelled his eight-match suspension as "unbelievable" and claimed it was due to United's "political power".
Evra is likely to receive another hostile reception on Sunday
Evra, meanwhile, was roundly booed when he played at Anfield with United in their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round in January.