The last two trips to Anfield have been very stressful affairs. Even those with the longest fingernails in the business were unable to play guitar for several months afterwards. Our on-paper record against Benitez-pool makes for some enjoyable reading, apparently their most prolific marksmen against United in recent years has been one John O’Shea, and we have recorded enough 1-0 victories to make an Italian World Cup Campaign drool with envy. That reading though, does not tell the full story. Even the most generous fans would admit we were more than pleased to drive home with three points from the last two; some may even go as far as saying we were lucky. So why, dear God why, do I feel more confident about this trip than the ones in the recent past?
Despite Liverpool currently occupying top-spot and their usual, pre-season ‘this year we’re gonna do it wac’ posturing, I think that they don’t believe it.  I think that every scouser is secretly cringing inside at the thought of this fixture. Their two great hopes, $tevie Mbe and Torres, are both crocked and they simply don’t have the confidence to win without them. Their farcical board situation means that everybody secretly know Benitez could be out of a job at any moment, and, of course, Carragher has chosen this week of all others to release his addition to that most worthy of fields, the footballer’s autobiography. “The owners are destabalising the club!” He wails in those poetic pages. Yes Jamie, but your book is doing nothing of the sort.
Unusually for a man with a goatee beard Benitez strikes me as a man of pride. He will want to improve his record against us and he has such experience at fluking qualification from the Champions League Group Stages that he may not even worry too much about Tuesday’s game. Fergie always thinks ahead to the European games, always. Benitez could start with half-fit Gerrard and half-fit Torres, which may or may not help them, but Sir Alex may also field Fletcher and O’Shea. It will be difficult to guess the teams in advance but surely the strongest we have got should beat them.
The players returning from the England set-up should do so with a spring in their step, that would include people like Rooney and Ferdinand but again, tellingly, not Gerrard. Tevez will want to to put in the kind of performance that reminds his international selectors he is good for something other than earning red cards (he has got two in his last three Argentina matches).  There is also the matter of Dimitar Berbatov’s, hopefully, inevitable debut. The stage is set then, the crowning of a new forward maestro and the early season crushing of Liverpool’s title hopes too. I feel so confident about this I have even arranged to watch the game with a Liverpool fan. The only problem is, it just doesn’t work that way does it?
I have a horrible feeling that Fergie will start with Gary Neville, who I am certain is not yet match sharp. I also think that he might go for a cagier formation when, at the moment, Liverpool are there for the taking. Capello’s England decided to go for it this week and it worked out for them, if we adopt the same approach we could record a famous victory. But maybe Fergie, like me, has had a look at his fingers and thought he might want to strum some kum-by-ah over the coming weeks. The result will be on the team sheets for this one.