Football Focus: Fireworks beckon at Old Trafford

All eyes will be at Old Trafford this weekend as Manchester United prepare to host Liverpool for the first time since Luis Suarez returned from his ban.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I regard this as the fiercest fixture in Premier League and with Liverpool eliminating United from the FA Cup recently, more fuel has been added to the fiery clash.

For Liverpool, I think Suarez might just start on the bench, given the sheer tension that arose from the racial abuse debate.  The FA isn’t helping by calling for a handshake between him and Evra, given how it ended up between Anton Ferdinand and John Terry.

You won’t want to get Suarez involved in all these kind of things, given that he’s not in the right frame of mind. In the match against Tottenham, he kicked Scott Parker in the stomach. You don’t do that.

Footballers don’t just kick people in the stomach.

The jeers he expects may just spur him to do something unexpected that won’t help his team, so Dalglish should go with a similar lineup like in the FA Cup with Carroll leading the line up front.

While the ponytailed striker has been criticized for his lack of goals, he will be useful against a goalkeeper short on confidence like De Gea. Everyone saw what happened in the FA Cup match, where De Gea was unnerved by Carroll’s aerial prowess in the box.

Also, Bellamy and Kuyt should play out wide in the flanks. Bellamy has been in excellent form for Liverpool and I can see both of them trying to exploit the space behind United’s attacking full backs.

Speaking of full-backs, Suarez’s antagonist in the reverse fixture will have a tough game coming for him.

Patrice Evra will surely start for Manchester United — only because he is the sole recognised left back in the team.

He has been very poor recently, being involved in almost all the mistakes that contributed to goals conceded for Manchester United. Just last weekend, he was involved in all three goals that Chelsea scored. Liverpool will surely be looking to exploit his weakness down the flank.

Despite that, I feel that United will have the advantage playing at home. They will have all the momentum going for them and I expect them to go all-out on the attack, while Liverpool will be more cautious.

Sir Alex Ferguson prefers to start Welbeck and I think he’ll get the nod this time as well, ahead of Hernandez to partner Rooney up front. Welbeck has the pace and instinct which I feel may just trouble Liverpool too much.

And as I said before, Manchester United’s midfield system is their strength, and I feel that it will help them control the game.

For this one, I’m going for Manchester United to win by a couple of goals, simply because the match is being played at Old Trafford and they will go all out to win at home.

Ultimately, this is a game of two brilliant managers trying to outguess each other — there’s no definite answer to who will start or how the team will play.

One thing is for sure though, there is going to be a lot of tension and flashpoints in this match. All we can do is sit back and enjoy the sparks.

Former Liverpool and England International Steve McMahon is a football expert with ESPN. Catch him on Monday Night Verdict at 8 p.m. and on ESPN’s coverage of the Barclays Premier League