While Manchester United were cruising to a 5-2 defeat of  Scunthorpe with an entirely different starting line up to that used against Liverpool on Sunday, ten other Premier League clubs were dropping out of the Carling Cup. Manchester  City were knocked out by West Brom to miss out on their best chance of winning some sort of desperately desired silverware, Liverpool were determined to get to a Wembley final but could not even make it into the fourth round after going out to League Two Northampton at a half empty Anfield while Chelsea, Tottenham, Blackburn, Everton, Bolton, Fulham, Sunderland and Blackpool have  all been eliminated.

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One of the biggest expectations during the recently closed transfer window was for Manchester United to secure a top class goalkeeper in preparation for veteran Edwin van der Sar’s impending retirement. Those expectations were further increased when Sir Alex Ferguson was prepared to allow Ben Foster move to Birmingham City but to the surprise of many, a replacement failed to materialise with Sir Alex putting all his faith in his number two keeper Tomasz Kuszczak. It was interesting see a report in the Manchester Evening News therefore that the Poland international is now contemplating a move away from Old Trafford despite van der Sar getting closer with every game to hanging up his gloves.

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Sunday’s Old Trafford clash will be far more than a battle for three points. Manchester United and Liverpool will both be desperate to avoid defeat albeit for vastly different reasons. Anything but a win for United will almost certainly see them trailing Chelsea by seven points after only five games which would be a huge gap to make up so early in the campaign.

For many Liverpool fans however, the objective is totally different. Manager Roy Hodgson has admitted that it’s not realistic for his side to win the title. Even grabbing a top four position could be difficult with both Manchester City and Spurs looking good bets to finish above them. The major goal for those fans therefore is to simply stop United from winning a record breaking nineteenth title. Winning on Sunday will be a huge first step towards avoiding what would be such a devastating outcome.

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