Manchester United v Liverpool. You would think that that in itself is enough to fill any number of column inches but certain journalists have seemed desperate to make more of this than I think is necessary.

Sometimes I wish certain journalists would understand that for the vast majority of football fans, football is an escape from the day-to-day crap. For the two hours or so that a football match lasts, nothing else in the world matters and I hope this is how it will be today.

This is all about us winning three points. It is all about us putting straight a little injustice that occurred when we met Liverpool at their place recently, played them off the park for large periods but still, somehow, ended up losing the match.

Hopefully, the players will have learned something from that game. Possession might well be nine tenths of the law but balls in the back of the net are what matters on a football pitch.

What we can count on is that no matter how much possession we have in this match, Liverpool are going to thrust forward whenever they get the ball and we’ll need to ensure that we make the very most of our possession this time round.

However, this has been something of a problem for us recently and we have had to rely on the penalty spot a little bit too much for my liking of late but having dropped a couple of points in our last game it is vital that we take maximum points now – especially at home.

Our injury list appears to be sorting itself out now so hopefully we can have a bit more luck on that score from now until the end of the season. As a result of this, there has been some speculation that Tom Cleverley could be in line for some sort of appearance this afternoon and that would be great if true.

Up front, I think Hernandez will be rewarded for his goal against Chelsea with a start here this afternoon. This season hasn’t been as spectacular as last season for the Little Pea but from here on in he can make himself the hero all over again – starting this afternoon.

Predicting these games is always difficult, Liverpool have shown time and again that they can have a trick up their sleeve when it comes to playing against us but their record at OT down the years isn’t great and I do fancy us to take the points this afternoon in what I think will be a fairly high-scoring game.

The bet is 3 points OVER 2.5 goals @ 1.95 with Bet365.

This game will be remembered for the stunning comeback from 3-0 by United but the biggest question on everyone’s lips was, “How the hell did we find ourselves 3-0 down in the first place?”

There wasn’t much to get too over-excited about in the first half. Welbeck appeared to be tripped for a possible penalty but replays showed that the challenge occurred outside the box and, from the referee’s angle, it could have even looked like the Chelsea player got the ball (I actually think Welbeck had nicked it away and it should have been a free-kick just outside the box).

Chelsea huffed and puffed but created little until a loose ball was picked up by Daniel Sturridge and, facing up to Evra, he tricked his way past and blasted the ball into the box. De Gea stuck out a leg and diverted it away from goal only to see it ricochet off Jonny Evans and into the net to give Chelsea a 1-0 lead they scarcely deserved.

At half-time, I had no doubts that we could score the necessary two goals to win this match and with the players out nice and early, it looked like they meant to get straight down to business and take the game to Chelsea from the off.

However, the second half got off to the worst possible start for us as Torres (who remains dodgy in front of goal) delivered a sublime cross straight onto Mata’s boot who volleyed it home spectacularly after less than thirty seconds of the restart.

At this stage, the hill we had to climb suddenly looked like a mountain if we were to get three points from this one but Chelsea weren’t done and a free kick which David Luiz headed towards goal was diverted wickedly off Ferdinand’s shoulder and past the wrong-footed De Gea to make it 3-0 with just five minutes of the second half gone.

As United fans, we are used to seeing comebacks from our team but 3-0 down at Stamford Bridge… well, I would like to know when a team last achieved this but it certainly isn’t in my memory banks.

We were thrown a lifeline less than ten minutes later though when Evra was tripped clumsily in the box for a penalty which Rooney put away with aplomb.

At this stage, Chelsea had received a warning and you’d expect them to shut up shop but, bizarrely, they continued to play an attacking game which made the rest of the second half a very open game and we were given yet another penalty some ten minutes after the first which Rooney again put away with ease.

To be fair, this one looked like a clear penalty at first glance but replays showed that Welbeck “bought it” but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures and I’m sure a certain Mr Drogba would have been proud of the way Welbeck just left his leg in and went over.

So, at 3-2 it was certainly game back on and there was, by this stage, a certain inevitability about what would happen next. Our tails were up and we were doing to Chelsea what I expected us to do from the start and it fell for Ryan Giggs to show every ounce of his mature years to keep a cool head and deliver a perfect cross into the box which Javier Hernandez headed home for 3-3 with at least five minutes plus added time to be played.

Could we pull off the comeback to top all comebacks?

Well, unfortunately, not this time and to be fair, Chelsea had a couple of decent efforts of their own in the closing minutes which required De Gea to pull off a couple of very good saves especially the one from Mata’s perfect free kick which was heading right into the top corner before De Gea used every inch of his six foot four frame and every bit of his agility to paw away at the last moment.

So, all in all, the players deserve every praise for not letting their heads drop at 3-0 and anyone who questioned whether or not we have the stomach for the fight at this stage of the season got their answer in emphatic style but there does remain a sense of bewilderment as to how we found ourselves 3-0 down in the first place.

For all the comeback heroics, this still feels like two points dropped as, just as with Liverpool in the FA Cup, I think we were the better team but we didn’t get the result we truly deserved.

However, quite apart from the fighting spirit on display, there were several other positives to take from this:-

De Gea’s performance: He still looks a bit dodgy on crosses and such but he showed that he is one hell of a shot-stopper. There was nothing he could do about any of Chelsea’s goals but he certainly prevented a couple of almost certain goals that a lesser keeper would have been picking out of his net.

Rooney’s penalties: Rooney has missed a few of late but showed remarkable courage to take not one but two penalties in this one and not only did he take them but he scored them convincingly with seemingly no sign of nerves or self-doubt. Petr Cech had no chance with either.

Carrick awesome (again): Michael Carrick has been back to his very best in recent matches and was once again instrumental in midfield without ever appearing to do anything particularly spectacular.

Valencia awesome too (again): I must admit that with Nani having such a great season last year and with our signing of Young in the summer who then went on to have a great pre-season and start to the season for us, I feared that Valencia could get edged out for much of this season but he has really shown his fighting spirit to rise to the challenge and I suspect that even if Fergie had a fully fit trio of Nani, Valencia and Young, Valencia would be his first choice right now.

He runs tirelessly, he gets forward, he tracks back, he always gives his full-back a nightmare and whilst his service has always been good, he’s now starting to add a decent shot to his repertoire. Arguably the best United player of the season so far for my money.

If there was something to moan about here then it was the fact that we had to rely on the penalty spot to get two of the goals (as we did against Stoke) and Hernandez’ goal aside, we didn’t really carve open any clear-cut chances. This was the problem against Liverpool the other week where, for all our possession, we ended up losing and it is a worry.

Rooney was deservedly man of the match here and put away his penalty kicks brilliantly but I think we’d all like to see him banging in a few more from open play now that he’s back from his little injury lay-off.

In my preview of the season, I had Chelsea down to finish second in the Premier League. I felt that we would win it but Chelsea’s experience would see them finish above City again and that they would take us right down to the final game or two.

However, Chelsea have been a shadow of their former selves for much of this season and currently sit in fourth and a massive twelve points behind us. With City winning yesterday, that makes them fifteen points off the top spot and at this stage, they will do well to overtake Spurs for third as they trail them by some seven points.

What appears to have happened over recent seasons is that Abramovich has tightened the purse strings and all those top notch players they bought for hundreds of millions a few years ago are now reaching the autumn of their careers but they haven’t been replaced with anywhere near the same quality.

When the cash has been splashed, it hasn’t always worked out and perhaps the most spectacular example of this is the case of Fernando Torres. A few years ago, I had him and Drogba as the best two strikers in the league but since the 2010 World Cup, Torres has gone from being recognised as one of the best strikers on the planet to a an embarrassing £50million flop.

The reverse fixture this season at Old Trafford will be remembered as much for Torres’ miss as much as anything else.

There. Now I’ve set Torres up to bang in a hat-trick against us this afternoon.

I think what the game against them at OT proved though was that, on their day, Chelsea are still capable of fantastic football and whilst we ran out 3-1 winners on the day, we rode our luck on several occasions and the score could have been anything you like up to and including 8-8.

As per usual, we stagger into this game with a hospital ward full of casualties and therefore it is difficult to say who will start although there has been some encouraging news on Cleverly and Young.

Valencia has been on fire of late and so I expect him to resume on the right but if Nani has not shaken off the injury that kept him out of our last game then perhaps Young will make a reappearance on the left but I believe Nani is fit and so Fergie might just opt to keep Young on the bench for this one.

I would also expect to see Rooney come back from his own injury for this one but Fergie has a dilemma as to who will play up front alongside him unless he ducks the issue completely and goes for a five-man midfield.

Chelsea have their own selection problems, especially in defence, as I believe Terry is injured and Ashley Cole is suspended meaning that new signing Gary Cahill could well make his debut in what will be a pretty untested and therefore vulnerable back four.

One thing that did surprise me about the Manager’s press conference was the fact that we have not beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the league for ten years but I do believe that if there was ever a good time to put that particular stat to rest then now is that time.

Stamford Bridge used to be a fortress and any visiting team knew that if they came back with a point, they’d had a good game but that aura of invincibility is now fading and Chelsea have already lost three of their eleven home games this season (Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal) and, Manchester City aside, the teams they have beaten there have all been teams they would usually be expected to beat.

I believe that we have to win this afternoon. It is perhaps a game which City and Spurs will be hoping to see us drop points in and a draw would be an excellent result for those two teams. However, if we can take the points then we go back on top alongside City with another tough fixture behind us.

Rather than get too fancy with the betting, I think that the price on the straight United win represents good value and that’s what I will be going for this afternoon.

The bet is 2 points United to Win @ 2.75 with Coral.

Well, today is transfer deadline day and, as I type, I am watching Sky Sports News desperately trying to turn what has been a pretty boring transfer window into something exciting… “News just in! Joe Bloggs has signed for the Dog & Duck for a fee reported to be around two pints of lager and a packet of crisps”…

For our part, it appears that we have said goodbye to a couple of players (Mame Biram Diouf and Ravel Morrison) and although there have been murmurs of a couple of relatively unknown players coming in, there’s nothing to get too excited about as a Manchester United fan on the transfer front.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with the most important thing about today and that is the visit of Stoke this evening.

Stoke are enjoying another solid season in the Premier League but I suspect their current eighth place is as high as they will get this season. Their away form has been a bit hit and miss so far but a 0-0 at Anfield a couple of weeks ago was a decent result for them but generally, when they have played the better teams away they have been beaten by comfortable margins (3-0 against City, 3-1 against Arsenal).

Our home record, whilst not as good as last season, is still the third best in the league and we have beaten Stoke on the three occasions that we have faced them here in the Premier League although the 2-1 victory in our last game against them just over twelve months ago was the closest of them all which probably illustrates the progress Stoke have made over the last few years.

As usual, the main problem we seem to have is on the injury front and I have not been able to establish whether Rooney and/or Nani will be back for this one although Rooney does look the more likely of the two to appear this evening. After being an unused sub in our FA Cup match against Liverpool, Ferdinand also looks like he could come back into the centre of defence and if that is the case then I think I would like to see him partner Smalling who just looks generally better in the air than Evans.

In fact, this could be a key factor for us in this match as the reports are also that Lindegaard has suffered some kind of injury and so De Gea might continue in goal. Now, De Gea is a United player and I want him to succeed here and become a legend like Schmeichel and Van Der Sar but right now, I’m afraid that I have to watch him with my fingers over my eyes every time our opponents fling the ball in from dead-ball situations… and that is exactly what Stoke like to do the most and if De Gea is in net then it will only encourage them, I feel.

However, I still believe we will win here tonight but I wouldn’t go crazy for the 1.33(ish) price the bookies are offering for an outright win for us and I do believe that this could be a close scoreline, especially if it is correct that Nani and Rooney won’t feature.

The key to the bet on this one is whether or not we can keep a clean sheet, I feel. A 2-0 win for us would not be out of the question but I would like to see exactly what the defence is looking like before going for something like that.

At this moment in time, I am generally of the view that both teams will score this evening and that is going to be the bet because I think it offers value on what I see as a 50/50 toss of a coin type situation.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 2.1 with Bet365.

Naturally, after the drubbing we gave Arsene Whinger’s boys at Old Trafford earlier in the season, this one has attracted all kinds of speculation as to what might happen this time at the Emirates and whilst nobody believes we will see a similar scoreline most do expect there to be several goals in the game again.

Personally, I have a feeling that it could go the opposite way with both teams playing very cagily.

After a disastrous start to the season followed by an incredible, Van Persie-inspired run of results, Arsenal are currently going through another little dip and the prospect of them not even qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in (fifteen?) years is looking a very real possibility.

However, it has been on their travels where Arsenal have suffered most; at the Emirates, they have been very strong and have only suffered the one defeat there this season (their very first home game of the season against Liverpool when Arsenal were struggling and Liverpool were full of optimism for the new season).

They have conceded just six goals at the Emirates in the league but, somewhat unusually for Arsenal, have scored just sixteen which from ten games is not the stuff Arsenal have been renowned for down the years and they do rely far too heavily on Van Persie to provide the goals.

As for us, well, the injury situation does appear to be resolving itself which means that Fergie will have a decent number of players to choose from and it is just as well because this match represents the start of a tough set of fixtures which we will do well to come through unscathed.

I actually have a feeling that Fergie won’t pick what we might by now consider to be his “strongest side” for this one. Park might get the nod somewhere in midfield (he seems to have a happy knack of scoring against Arsenal) but as for the rest, it’s anyone guess but I think there’ll be a couple of surprises.

I’ve been on a bit of a roll with the bets of late and I suppose that run has to end at some point and it could well be today because I’m going to go slightly against the general consensus for the bet here.

The bet is 2 points Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.1 with BetVictor (the new name for Victor Chandler).

After last weekend’s fireworks against City this one has a lot to live up to but the players really do have to get back into winning ways in the League because it has to be remembered that, prior to the City win, we witnessed two pretty mediocre displays which got us all the points we deserved.

Bolton, meanwhile, have managed to finally put some more points on the board in their last couple of games and two away wins in their last two away fixtures means that they arrive here in some semblance of form.

However, trips to Old Trafford have not been particularly profitable for Bolton for years now (they last won here over nine years ago) and we have won the last eight at Old Trafford – sometimes by comfortable margins but in recent years the scoreline has been much closer and none more so than this fixture last season which we won by a solitary goal (Berba scored the late, late winner).

I’d like to think that our “blip” is over for a while now and that we’ll get back to business here and win by a decent margin but news coming from Fergie that the likes of Jones and Smalling are “doubts” don’t inspire me with great confidence – how many more injuries can we withstand? Personally, I think that this might be Fergie playing his little games and I expect at least one of those two to make the starting line-up, if not both.

Anyway, we really should have the beating of Bolton here. Surely Blackburn provided us with the “home shock” of the season and we’re not going to have another within the space of two consecutive home games. In fact, I think we might score three in this one and win by a fairly comfortable margin. Unfortunately, the bookies feel the same and so the prices on offer are miserly.

So, I think that being slightly contrary with the bet will either blow up in my face or prove rather profitable so I’m going to go against the grain a bit.

As for the team selection… well… it’s never been an easy job at the best of times but with Fergie now plucking players out of retirement and naming them in the squad just an hour before kick-off, it has become even more difficult so I’m edging my bets on this one too and I’m going for the following:-

Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce, Stam, Neville, Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Beckham, Cantona, Van Nistelrooy.

That lot should take care of Bolton.

The bet is 2 points Under 3.5 goals @1.97 with Bet365.

I jokingly referred to the 5-0 defeat we suffered at the hands of Newcastle all those years ago in my pre-match write-up but this one was, in many ways, a very similar game.

The match was not as one-sided as the scoreline would suggest (don’t get me wrong, Newcastle were better and thoroughly deserved their win) but so much of what we tried to do failed by small margins whilst Newcastle could hardly do no wrong.

Their first two goals in this game were as stunning as anything scored in that 5-0 win (and there were some beauties in that game, too) and were good enough to win any game.

Demba Ba is looking like the signing of the century as Alan Pardew got him on a free-transfer (I believe most clubs were wary of taking a chance on him because of his injury record) but I don’t think you’d be able to sign him for less than £30million at the moment and his opener is already a contender for goal of the month, if not the whole season.

Their second, scored from a superb free-kick by Cabaye was as good as any free-kick you’ll see and it was no fluke – I seem to remember him scoring an almost identical free-kick in another of Newcastle’s games earlier in the season.

Their third… well… the least said about that the better. Phil Jones made an absolute mess as he tried to head back to Lindegaard (despite the ball being about two feet off the ground) but the keeper had already positioned himself to scoop up the ball so Jones’ header merely bobbled into our own net.

For our own part, Berbatov saw a header deflected onto the post early on and then another Rooney shot from point-blank-range late on was cleared off the line and I cannot really remember much more from us than that.

What was noticable about this one was how much harder Newcastle were working, especially in the midfield areas, as they harried and hassled us into making mistakes with our passing and just generally made us look like we were doing everything at half-speed. Worryingly, Newcastle just generally looked “hungrier” than we did and that’s not something you’d have been able to say many times over the last ten years or so.

There must be a reason for it but I was also surprised that Rafael wasn’t given then right-back slot in order to allow Valencia (who has been excellent in recent games) the right-wing but Fergie opted to put Valencia in the right-back slot and Nani and Park on the wings.

All in all, whilst Fergie is urging everyone not to panic, this was a pretty disastrous result and coming on the back of the Blackburn defeat, it cannot really be described as a “blip” – especially when taken into context with our early Champions League exit – trying to pretend that all is rosy at Manchester United smacks of ostrich-like behaviour.

However, if anyone can pull this round, Fergie can. He’s done it before and I have every confidence that he’ll do it again.

I remember, many moons ago, when Newcastle were our closest title rivals and they beat us 5-0 in this very fixture (that match was actually over 15 years ago now but for many a United fan, it can be remembered as vividly as yesterday).

However, it would appear that Newcastle have been made to pay for that one ten-fold as we have generally beaten them ever since – their only other win over us was way back in 2001 when they ran out 4-3 winners in a match made infamous by Roy Keane’s attempted punch at Alan Shearer!

Of course, they somehow held us to a 1-1 draw just over a month ago at Old Trafford but that was when they were playing well and I think it is fair to say that luck wasn’t on our side that day.

Newcastle started this season extremely well and for a time, the Toon Army were tottling off to bed with little dreams of Champions League football next season but it was probably only a matter of time before the run ended and they found themselves in a more “Newcastle-like” position in the league and they currently sit in seventh place so by my reckoning, they still have a place or two to drop.

Now, having said that, they will probably stuff us 5-0 again tonight but I’m tending to think that we’re not going to suffer two defeats in a row.

As for our team selection, there were a couple of surprises in the Blackburn match with Anderson and Rafael coming back from injury and, of course, Rooney being dropped but I expect him to be back for this one tonight with possibly the in-form Berbatov alongside him.

The defence and midfield remains as tricky as ever to predict so I’m not even going to attempt it.

The main thing is that we need three points tonight in order to stay in touch with Manchester City who, of course, beat Liverpool 3-0 last night to go three points clear again.

I think we can do it tonight. Our away form has been extremely good this season (in fact, we have the best away record in the league by quite a margin) whilst Newcastle’s recent home form has been patchy.

The hard thing to predict is whether or not we will be able to continue our run of clean sheets in away games. We have won the last five without conceding a single goal because if we can do that then I believe that this will be a low scoring game – possibly 1-0 or 2-0 to Manchester United. However, I think that the run will come to an end tonight and we will need to score at least two to pick up the three points.

For this reason, I’m going to have a stab at the Over 2.5 Goals market.

The bet is 2 points Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.87 with Bet365.

Today, Sir Alex celebrates his 70th Birthday and there’s nothing he’d like more than three points in this early kick-off against low-flying Blackburn when they turn up at Old Trafford.

Steve Kean will probably just be glad that the vociferous element of his own “supporters” will likely be drowned out here.

Blackburn’s away record hasn’t actually been that bad recently (better than their home form actually) which must say something about how their own fans’ protests are having an effect on the team. Anyway, that’s all by the by. Que sera sera and all that.

Having watched us smack in ten goals without reply in our last two games, Blackburn will no doubt be reminded of this fixture last season when we beat them 7-1. To be fair, such a scoreline seems unlikely because whilst Blackburn are losing and drawing far too often, they aren’t actually conceding too many and aren’t getting beaten by many.

As usual, we have our own problems going into this one in terms of injuries and it is our defence which is looking a bit ragged at the moment after news that Smalling has some kind of viral illness (tonsillitis according to Fergie) and Evans will be sidelined by the injury he picked up in our last match. With the FA Cup tie against City looming large, it seems like a gamble for Fergie to play Rio in this one so I wouldn’t expect him to play, even if fit but Jones has apparently recovered from the knock to the face he took a couple of games ago and could resume in defence but it’s looking likely that he will be partnering Carrick in there.

Evra will take the left but the right could see Fryers given another chance to shine.

The midfield, therefore, is likely to be Nani, Park, Gibson and Valencia.

Upfront could be interesting and I wonder if we might see the Berbatov/Rooney option restored from the start here or even Rooney again rested with Hernandez playing alongside Berbatov from the start.

Given the number of injuries we’ve got at the moment, that doesn’t look like too bad a line-up and I fancy it would be more than enough to take care of Blackburn but they do have some decent players of their own and I still can’t shake the feeling that this one has “banana-skin” written on it somewhere.

However, with City playing tomorrow, this is an excellent opportunity for us to take the top spot for at least a day and put City under some pressure as the “chasers” and surely no mistakes will be made on our side.

I think we will win this game but I’m not sure that it will be by another landslide and so backing Blackburn in the Asian Handicap might prove profitable.

The bet is 2 points Blackburn +2.5 @ 1.84 with Victor Chandler.

Once again, Fergie had no choice but to ring the changes for this one as Phil Jones either failed to recover from the facial injury received in the last game or he was just rested as a matter of course but Michael Carrick, who has been in peak form of late in the middle of the park was brought back into central defence – and continued to show that he’s not too shabby in there either.

To be fair, United largely dominated this match and our defence had very little to do so it was a good time to have defensive problems, I suppose.

Park put us 1-0 ahead after just around eight minutes and a cricket score looked likely but the score remained that way until almost half time when Wigan had a player sent off and Berbatov got the first of three goals just moments later.

In the second half, Berba grabbed himself another with an excellent turn and shot (the kind of thing we all saw him doing for Spurs all the time a few years ago), the excellent Valencia scored a screamer into the bottom corner and Berbatov was able to seal his hat-trick and make it a 5-0 romp with a late penalty.

In fairness, Wigan should not have found themselves down to ten men – the sending off was extremely harsh (I’m sure Wigan could appeal the decision successfully). It also should not have been a penalty towards the end of the game – Park was clearly tripped outside the box but that probably balanced out an earlier penalty appeal when I thought Hernandez was clearly tripped around the twenty minute mark only for the ref to wave it away.

However, we were streets ahead of Wigan today and I do think that we would have won the game even without the decisions going our way. We were supposed to be the team with the defensive crisis but Wigan appeared very open at the back at times and with players like Rooney, Hernandez, Berbatov, Macheda, Nani, Park, Valencia and Giggs ploughing into them, it was always going to be just a matter of time before we got the breakthroughs.

The good news was to get even better after this one as Manchester City were held to a highly unusual (for them) 0-0 draw against West Brom which meant that we finished the day level on points and even that goal difference which at one point looked unassailable (and growing) is now down to just five – not bad considering the injury list we have been carrying almost from the first day of the season.

Incidentally, the injury list took another addition during this game as Jonny Evans limped off with a leg injury which is likely to see him sidelined for a couple of weeks or so and it looks vital that we get Rio and/or Jones back in time for the next game or we’re going to be playing with a defensive line-up of midfielders again.

For now though, the good times are back with us. Everyone is scoring goals. Everyone is reaching peak form (I thought Evra, who has been quick to “talk the talk” a lot of late, was finally seen “walking the walk” in this game and he was excellent) and we still had the chance to give young Zeke Fryers a run-out for the second half here – and again, he had a solid game.

Fergie said before the games kicked off today that City were favourites and he’s been saying for the last week or two that he’d be happy if we’re thereabouts come the New Year.

Mind games? Probably. They seem to be working though and City who probably felt that they would be over the hill and far away by now are suddenly feeling the pressure of leading from the front, it seems and Fergie will continue to turn the screw from here til May.