LeeDixon

Liverpool V Man Utd, Saturday October 15, Kick Off 12.45, live on Sky Sports 2

This is still just about the biggest game in English football, irrespective of the fact that Liverpool haven't really been competing for the league title for a while now. The fact Manchester United have just overtaken them when it comes to titles wOn should add a little more spice to the occasion, as if any was needed.

Match Odds

Liverpool's start to the season has been solid, if not spectacular. They were fortunate to win at Goodison Park of course. The fact Jack Rodwell's red card was rescinded proves that he shouldn't have been sent off in the first place. But Kenny Dalglish will be telling his players that if they can win at Everton, they can certainly get something out of this match in front of their own fans. The Opta stats back that up: Liverpool have won four of the last six Premier League games against Manchester United overall and the last three in a row at Anfield.

Manchester United stalled just a tad with that 1-1 draw a couple of weeks ago but they've looked the best team in the league so far. Wayne Rooney has been key to those performances but his sending-off for England and the consequent ban at Euro 2012 won't exactly have been the best preparation going into a match like this. After something like that happens on international duty you just want a low-key home match for your club to get back in the swing of things but Rooney's certainly getting nothing of the sort on Saturday. The Liverpool fans will be telling him exactly what they made of his dismissal and Sir Alex Ferguson may even decide that if he's not quite right mentally, he's better off leaving the former Everton man on the bench to start with. We'll have to wait and see.

I can make as case for all three outcomes so the best way to approach this is to conclude that a share of the spoils is the most likely result.


Over/Under 2.5 Goals

Both sides are better going forward than defending at present. This is too early on in the season for either side to play for a goalless draw and that's not the way either manager approaches football matches anyway. There should be goals in this one and 'overs' is a confident selection.

To Score

The possible omission of Wayne Rooney from United's starting line-up may coincide with the return of Steven Gerrard to Liverpool's. The skipper probably isn't 100% fit yet but even at 80% he's a guy you want in your team for a match like this. He's also the sort of bloke who can play through the pain barrier, inspiring fans and team-mates alike in the process. He likes scoring goals, especially against United, and is a good bet at around 5.0 to score at anytime if he starts.

Bookings Odds

The most obvious bet for this match but arguably the best. There's always going to be animosity between these two and Opta tell us there have been five red cards in the last seven Premier League games between Manchester United and Liverpool at Anfield. A sending off could well be on the cards (pun intended) but the safer bet is to go with nine points and above on the bookings odds market at anything bigger than 1.65. The extra spice surrounding Rooney will no doubt increase our chances of getting plenty of cards in the match.

Back the draw @ 3.4
Back Over 2.5 goals @ 1.97
Back Steven Gerrard to score at anytime @ 5.0
Back nine points and above in the bookings odds market @ 1.45

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