Expected Liberal to fight (4)
I believe the answer is:
duel
'fight' is the definition.
(duel is a kind of fight)
'expected liberal' is the wordplay.
'expected' becomes 'due' (I've seen this before).
'liberal' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'due'+'l'='DUEL'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for duel that I've seen before include "Prearranged fight with deadly weapons between two people" , "Contest between two people, perhaps with weapons" , "Personal combat" , "One got satisfaction from this" , "Two-person combat" .)