Hello and welcome to the official match thread for Saturday's Premier League encounter between Liverpool and Manchester United. Season So Far. I'll start with the home team. Liverpool have had a good start to the season. They currently sit 5th in the table with 13 points. We have picked up 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats. We started the season with a 1-1 draw against Sunderland. We then beat Arsenal and Bolton in the league and beat Exeter 3-1 in the Carling Cup. We then travelled to Stoke City. In a game which we had many chances, we couldn't put them away and Stoke collected the 3 points via a Jonathan Walters penalty. Looking for a response, Liverpool travelled to North London to take on Spurs. It was a poor day all round as Spurs ran out 4-0 winners. 3 wins on the trot against Brighton in the Carling Cup and Wolves and Everton in the league means Liverpool go into the game in good form. And onto the away team. Manchester United have started the season well. They sit top of the league with 6 wins and 1 draw and have therefore collected 19 points. United have put in some excellent performances with the 8-2 victory over Arsenal and the 5-0 win over Bolton being the highlights. They have also beaten Leeds 3-0 in the Carling Cup. United go into the game on the back of a 2-0 victory against newly-promoted Norwich City. Norwich did have chances but didn't put them away and United took advantage with the goals coming from Anderson and Welbeck. I shall end this preview with a stat: Injury News. Captain Steven Gerrard is set to start for Liverpool for the first time since 6 March after his slow recovery from a niggling groin problem. That means they have a fully-fit squad, with Glen Johnson, Martin Kelly, Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio all available. Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic will be allowed to decide himself if he is ready to return from a calf strain. Chris Smalling should be fit to play, but Tom Cleverley and Rafael Da Silva are unavailable because of injuries. Liverpool 1 - 1 Manchester United Goalscorers: Liverpool... Gerrard: 68th minute. Manchester United... Hernandez: 80th minute. Liverpool: Reina Kelly Carragher Skrtel Enrique Downing Henderson Adam Gerrard Suarez SUBS: Doni Bellamy Robinson Spearing Agger Carroll Lucas Henderson on for Lucas. Manchester United: De Gea Smalling Evans Ferdinand Evra Giggs Fletcher Nani Rooney Hernandez Welbeck SUBS: Lindegaard Carrick A.Young P.Jones Anderson Park Valencia Rooney on for Park. Nani on for A.Young. Hernandez on for P.Jones. [video=youtube;SmANoRRcKn8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmANoRRcKn8&feature=player_embedded[/video] YNWA.
Chris, your match threads keep getting earlier and earlier! . cheers all the same though, always a good read. Hope this one stays fresh for Saturday though and you don't need to re-post it again in 3 days!
I know! This was the only time I could get it up as I don't have any time in the next couple of days due to coursework, presentations etc. I should get some more time to do it next week and will post the next match thread later in the week.
today's interview with kenny will give us some real information on this one.... finally. there's been too long a gap between this match and everton so the whole thing has been talked out ad nausium. We might actually have something to talk about once kenny feeds the press some one liners.
Count your blessing its not Howard Webb. Unfortunately, Ferguson has appointed him to referee the return fixture on February 11th. If he does referee it, I expect us to lose.
Great stuff as usual Chris. I say we use this as the match thread as we always do I hope the mancs agree. I know they want a thread that EMF can't post on but they will have that privilege for the game at OT. So come on mancs join in on this one for the game.
Chris - Great match thread. Hopefully will be a good entertaining match with United hopefully coming out on top with us getting 3 points.
Betting odds taken from William Hill. Liverpool win: 11/5 Draw: 21/10 United win: 6/4. - Rooney to be shown a card: 3/1. (That is a special on offer from William Hill!) - Suarez to score first: 7/1. Kuyt to score first: 9/1 Carroll to score first: 9/1 Gerrard to score first: 12/1. - Rooney to score first: 6/1. Hernandez to score first: 7/1. Welbeck to score first: 9/1. A.Young to score first: 9/1.
Andre Marriner being the one who denied United a clearcut penalty in 2009 and a sending off for Jamie Carragher? Yep, he's a joke!
Wouldn't say i'm confident about the game, but I think we have a shout. It does annoy me that some people are so confident. No names mentioned!