Manchester United host Liverpool at Old Trafford in the Barclays Premier League this weekend, and with both teams not performing consistently, this already feisty derby has been kicked up a couple notches.
The North West Derby, which is the most highly-volatile in English sport, definitely did not need anymore significance placed on it, because Liverpool and United will surely be at one another's throats to try to get the upper hand now that it is a must-win for both.
United come into the match on the heels of two desperately disappointing draws against Everton and Rangers, and now the Reds need to quickly right the ship if they are going to make a serious attempt reclaim the Premier League title from Chelsea.
The draw against their other Merseyside rival was gut-wrenching, because the Reds conceded two injury-time goals in the 3-3 draw, and against Rangers United put up their first goose egg in the scoring column to open their UEFA Champions League group.
Whichever way you look at it, Sir Alex Ferguson made a gamble to rest some of his key players ahead of this match, so its imperative that those players - Dimitar Berbatov, Nani, Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic - make the Gaffer look like a genius rather than a fool.
About
This summer Liverpool and Rafael Benitez parted ways and the Spaniard was replaced by ex-Fulham boss, Roy Hodgson, which may take some edge off this derby as far as Sir Alex is concerned.
Unlike with Benitez, Ferguson and Hodgson have a mutual respect for each other, but his loathe for Liverpool might force the United manager to change his views of him just slightly. Hodgson did take a page out of Ferguson's book by resting his two most-prized assets - Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres - ahead of the trip to Old Trafford.
The replacement, though, has done little to change their fortune as the Anfield club is still stuttering and has yet to fire on all cylinders during his reign as manager.
Liverpool come into match having only taken five points from their first four Premier League matches.
Even though they level with five other teams, Liverpool's poor goal difference (-2) has them in 13th place in the Premier League - 10 places below United.
The main reason for their low place in the table, is that Liverpool has only scored twice, which is tied for the lowest with West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United and Wigan Athletic. Liverpool's lone win of the season was a controversial 1-0 over West Brom.
Because of their seventh-placed finish in the league last season, Liverpool are competing are in the UEFA Europa League, which is second tier of European football and playing the likes of FC Utrecht (Netherlands), Steaua Bucuresti (Romania) and Napoli (Italy).
In their nine overall matches, Liverpool have only scored more than a goal on four different occasions - and only one time they scored more than two - which was against Steaua on Thursday night.
Who
When Liverpool came a calling, Hodgson could not turn down the chance to manage one of the biggest clubs in England, but he has struggled to adapt to the pressures of the job and financial position of the club.
Even though they have one of the most illustrious histories in English football, Liverpool are facing financial problems, which has handcuffed Hodgson and prevented him from bringing in some of his style of players.
With that said though, he has brought in Joe Cole and Milan Jovanovic (unattached), Christian Poulsen (Juventus), Paul Konchesky (Fulham), Brad Jones (Middlesbrough) and Raul Meireles (FC Porto) to help round out his squad.
Even though his vision kept both Gerrard and Torres at Anfield, Hodgson could do nothing but watch as both Javier Mascherano (FC Barcelona) and Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea) left Liverpool for other clubs.
David Ngog is Liverpool's leading scorer with six goals in all competitions - five of them coming in the Europa League.
News
United will be without the services of Antonio Valencia for the majority of the season after he underwent successful surgery on his broken leg. This is a great loss to Sir Alex, because the Ecuadorian winger was set to play a pivotal role in the United's season.
With Valencia out, it will give Nani to prove his real value to United as he will be able to play down his preferred side, and Gabriel Obertan, who is now recovered from an ankle injury should get a chance down the opposite flank.
Treatment
Out: A. Valencia (leg), O. Hargreaves (knee); Doubtful: M. Carrick (achilles), G. Obertan (ankle); Probable: Anderson (knee)
Projected
E. van der Sar; J. O'Shea, R. Ferdinand, N. Vidic, P. Evra; Nani, P. Scholes, D. Fletcher, R. Giggs; W. Rooney, D. Berbatov
Prediction
Manchester United 2, Liverpool 1
Contributed by David Hammons / The United Religion
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