There’s no love lost between these two sides but it’s the reigning Champions who have to be the bet at general price of 2.5 to emerge victorious in what promises to be a titanic battle.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s young guns may have dropped their first points of the season when drawing away Stoke when last seen in premiership action, but before that they had been banging in goals for fun with wide margin victories over Spurs, Arsenal, Bolton and Chelsea.

They have played Liverpool 14 times in the last six seasons and have won on eight occasions.

The only worrying stat is that if you take out the games at Old Trafford then you are left with two wins, a draw and four losses.

Indeed Liverpool are going for their fourth successive victory over the Red Devils at Anfield, and their fans have been quick to latch onto that stat.

However the home side are about as easy to predict as the lottery numbers, and stats mean nothing when it comes to this game.

What does matter is which team is the strongest, playing best and has the most desire to win.

The answer to all three is United.

They are unbeaten in 11 league and cup games so far this season – scoring 34 goals in the process – and unlike their opponents don’t rely or one or two players to bag goals.

Rooney, Chicharito, Nani, Welbeck are all capable of banging one in, as well as among others Ashley Young who has made a tremendous start to his first season with the club.

However what is surprising is that Rooney has failed to score in his last six visits to Anfield.

Wazza will be eager to break that barren run and this is the perfect stage for him make the right sort of headlines following his sending off for England.

You can get 5.5 with Victor Chandler netting the opener and his 10th of the season. That looks fair value in my book.

Given that there has been at least one red card shown in six of the last 10 meetings between the two sides the 3.2 on offer with Paddy Power about another sending off could also be worth a punt.

Liverpool showed in their game against Spurs when they had two sent off that they can easily lose their heads when things start to go wrong.

United’s side is full of pace, and it’s not hard to envisage the likes of Young, Nani or Valenica proving just too hot to handle. I can see them running the Liverpool defence ragged and the frustration they cause is likely to bring about some rash challenges.

All in all a United win looks on the cards in what is going to be a fiercely fought encounter, and for those who like to play in the correct score market a 3-1 victory appeals at 18 with bet365 and Betfred.