RED DEVILS TO GO TOP

The early kick off on Saturday provides Man Utd with the opportunity to go top of the Premiership for the first time since September and whilst they will have played a game more than their rivals Man City it will firmly put the pressure on them in advance of their trip to Aston Villa 24 hours later

This is an excellent motivational factor for the Man Utd players who showed last week they can never be written off as they battled back from 0-3 down away to Chelsea to earn a well deserved draw. Their visitors this weekend are arch rivals Liverpool who travel to Old Trafford full of confidence with an impressive recent record over Man Utd of 2 wins & a draw from their last 3 head to head fixtures

Liverpool have also faired better on the road this season than at Anfield with 6 wins compared to just 4 at Anfield and its their home form that has seriously curtailed their top 4 aspirations, which is most unusual for Liverpool. They also now have Suarez back in contention and we all know the bitterness involved since the incident involving him & Evra earlier in the season which earned the Uraguian an 8 game ban, so for sure he'll be highly motivated for this game, if selected by Daglish

Whilst Liverpool hold the uperhand in recent meetings all 3 of those came at Anfield and Utd have won the last 3 encounters at Old Trafford so home advantage is a serious asset in these type of encounters and I expect that to be the defining factor this weekend. Utd have taken 28 from 36 points at home this season and with Hernandez & Rooney now looking back on track with Young & Nani fighting back to fitness this is now the stage of the season when we traditionally see Man Utd hit top form and go on a winning streak. Utd have also scored 35 goals from their 12 home games so whilst their defence looks vulnerable at times their attacking play is sufficient to make up for that

Liverpool need massive performances from Reina, Gerrard & Suarez if they're to be successful here and I have my doubts if Suarez will start so it puts tremendous pressure on the likes of Gerrard who simply can't do it on his own. Carroll is basically a non scoring centre forward and too few other Liverpool players weigh in with goals. In fact they've only managed 28 goals all season from 24 games which is a poor return for a team like Liverpool and when you compare that to Utd's record of 59 goals from the same number of games you can see why the teams are 16 points apart in the league table

For me the defining facotrs for this match which will sway it in the home teams favour are home advantage, their greater scoring ability & the opportunity to top the table. These 3 facors should ensure Utd secure all 3 points in an intense battle

Man Utd to win is my pick here... Good Luck

1

Supporters

1. luckygirl34

Posted on: 07.02.2012, 12.51 CET (Viewed: 525 times)
Match starts on: February 11, 2012

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