The crisis is more than obvious at the Anfield and the hopes they will finally be getting one of the trophies this season are slowly diminishing after 4 consecutive defeats in all competitions they’ve participate in. The excuse for that can be cause they played 3 out of 4 of those matches against some very tough rivals (Fiorentina, Chelsea and Lyon), while against the only “weaker” team they were without Gerrard and Torres, and conceded a very funny goal to say the least. When looked at their home form, the stats are showing there are usually many goals scored at their matches, as well as the fact they won 3 out of 4 times so far this season. It should be noted the quality of the teams they’ve faced at the Anfield so far isn’t even close to what’s awaiting them at this match. Many things will depend on Torres’ and Gerrard’s fitness levels, and it’s still not certain whether will both of them be able to play at this game, even though there have been some indications the Spaniard might be ready. Glen Johnson is also very near returning to the team as he has also recovered.
Recording narrow wins
Manchester United has won almost every match this season so far, and that trend was continued with the win against CSKA in Moscow. Narrow wins were the mark of their start to this campaign, as they won as many as 5 out of their 7 matches by 1-goal margins, as well as 3 of their CL games. Their midfielders haven’t been as dominant as they were in the previous seasons, and those that had the opportunity to watch their games against Sunderland and Bolton were surely surprise by the amount of goal-scoring chances the opposing teams created. The return of Van der Saar to the goal will surely be of great significance to the whole squad and it should also be expected Rooney will return due to the injury that kept him sidelined in the last 2 matches. Darren Fletcher is also questionable, but Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra will be back to the starting lineup.
The goal - avoid the defeat
Manchester United mostly came out of the clashes vs. Liverpool as a winner in the past seasons, but the last year Pool has won twice. Firstly, it was 2:1 at the Anfield, and then they humiliated the big rival at the Old Trafford by 4:1. This is a match that no team wants to lose, so we can expect somewhat more closed play by both sides, however, their mutual clashes ended in a tie only once in the previous 12 encounters. The current form suggest Man.Utd is a slight favorite at this match, even though Pool’s potential success at this match could give them their confidence back. It all indicates we’ll be witnessing a great fight and huge tactical battle by two excellent coaches, and this match will probably be resolved by one genuine move and thus I don’t expect more than 2 goals to be scored during the course of this match.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prediction:
Tip: Under 2.25
Odd: 2.00
Bookie: Pinnacle
Stake: 7 /10
Tipster: Kather
