A 1-0 win over Swansea City on Monday extended Liverpool's unbeaten Premier League run to 13 matches and saw them close to within four points of second place.
Rodgers' team are unbeaten since they last played United – that day in mid-December resulted in a 3-0 loss at Old Trafford.
But ahead of the next meeting between the rivals, Rodgers said Liverpool could showcase their improvement while moving above Louis van Gaal's men.
"We can now really look forward to that. I think tonight we needed a result so to get the victory was a huge result for us," he told a media conference after the win over Swansea.
"Now at home, we look forward to going into this game. They're massive games, great games to be involved in.
"I think it'll show the strides we've made since we played them a number of months back. For that, I have to give immense credit to the team.
"We put ourselves in a great position. There's still a lot of work to go, [it's time to] recover now and get ready for the weekend."
With Manchester City losing at Burnley on Saturday, Rodgers' men are suddenly eyeing second spot.
The Northern Irishman said City's result had opened up an opportunity for his team.
"It's to finish as high as we can. Everyone talks about fourth, but it's the same every year for me," Rodgers said.
"We do the best that we can do and I think Manchester City's result at the weekend gives us an opportunity to finish second.
"Our mentality, and the run and the confidence that we have at the moment, we're just going to take that into every game and see where it takes us."
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