Man United will beat Liverpool in the biggest game in Singapore

Richard Lenton is an experienced journalist and broadcaster. He won Best Sports Presenter at the 2013 Asian TV Awards, and, despite being in his late 30s, still believes that he can make it as a professional footballer. www.richardlenton.co.uk Twitter: @richardlenton

Match Selection: Manchester United to beat Liverpool

Making sense of the statistics to come up with a Premier League dead cert

A clash between third and ninth in the EPL doesn’t usually set the pulses racing, but Manchester United versus Liverpool remains the biggest game in Singapore, bar none.

With Chelsea and Manchester City seemingly locked in a two-horse race for the Premier League crown, former United defender Gary Neville described this juicy fixture between two bitter rivals as the Dog and Duck versus the Red Lion, a comment that infuriated United boss Louis van Gaal. However, when you consider the low levels to which these two teams have sunk at various stages of the season, maybe it’s the respective pub teams who would have been more offended.

[THE WORST MANCHESTER UNITED SIDE EVER: PAUL PARKER]

Despite their continuing defensive issues, the Red Devils have now won five in a row, including Monday night’s victory over a Southampton side who dominated for large spells (a result that was correctly predicted here last week, thank you very much).

United’s record at home to Liverpool in recent years is excellent; that is if you conveniently ignore last season’s 3-0 capitulation under that doyen of the Spanish language David Moyes. The red half of Manchester had won 10 of their previous 11 Old Trafford meetings with Liverpool before that particularly sorry afternoon at the Theatre of Dreams for a manager who was on the verge of losing his job.

Liverpool are unbeaten in five league and cup matches, but results like last weekend’s 0-0 draw with lowly Sunderland at Anfield shows just how far the Reds have slipped since Luis Suarez sauntered off to Spain after nearly losing his front teeth at the World Cup in Brazil.

With Robin van Persie back in full flow in front of goal, it could be a long afternoon for a Reds defence that has kept only one clean sheet in ten away games this season.

Selection dilemmas

Helping you choose the right players for your Yahoo! Fantasy Premier League team

When it comes to selecting players from this match for your Yahoo Fantasy teams, you have to look at United.

However, with Louis van Gaal struggling desperately to fill defensive positions, make sure you keep tabs on the latest injury news emanating from Old Trafford as we approach kick off.

My pick is the returning Jonny Evans. The Northern Irishman has his critics, but I remember seeing him as a teenager playing for Roy Keane’s Sunderland, and he was colossal. If he stays fit, he should become a first choice centre-half in van Gaal’s team. And, at £7.40m, he represents great value.

Talking of Sunderland, their clean sheet at home to Liverpool last Saturday demonstrates how tight they now are defensively as long as they avoid any silly individual errors. Okay, Wes Brown errors.

Carlos Pantilimon has taken over from Vito Mannone as first choice goalkeeper and looks good value at £7.36m, while defensive duo Anthony Reveillere (£8.84m) and Santiago Vergini (£6.43m) also look worth a punt.

In theory, Chelsea should rattle in the goals this weekend at home to Hull, but, without the suspended Cesc Fabregas, they may just struggle to unlock the door. Therefore, as an outside attacking option, why not have a look at Burnley’s Danny Ings. A fee of £9.87m doesn’t look bad for a player who’s bagged four in seven, and whose team entertain a Southampton side who’ve lost three on the spin.

What I learnt last weekend…

ALL HAIL BIG SAM

West Ham are in the top four of the Barclays Premier League. Staggering isn’t it, especially when you think back to last season’s abject performances and the stand-off between the manager Sam Allardyce and the disgruntled fans and owners who demanded more entertainment than the dross that was being served up. The transformation this season has been impressive, helped by some very shrewd signings and some very clever decision-making – not least switching Stewart Downing to a central role.

CHELSEA SHOULD HAVE BEATEN NEWCASTLE, BUT…

…to blame the ball-boys for the defeat, as Blues’ boss Jose Mourinho insisted on doing, was beyond ridiculous. A few seconds here and there did very little in comparison to Chelsea failing to take a myriad of chances, particularly in the first half when they looked a class above their opponents. Chelsea remain favourites to win the EPL title, but this result has breathed new life into a title race that was beginning to look very one-sided indeed.

KRKIC TO LIVERPOOL?

Arsene Wenger has been on the receiving end of some heavy duty criticism since Arsenal’s capitulation against Stoke – much of it fully justified. The Gunners were weak defensively; on afternoons like Saturday, you have to type ‘Per Mertesacker’ into a search engine just to double check how many caps he’s won for Germany (the answer, is a staggering 104). The giant defender slept-walked his way through the first half at the Britannia as the rampant hosts took a 3-0 lead. But let’s give credit to Stoke for their energy and ambition; led quite brilliantly by the mercurial Bojan Krkic. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Krkic looks a better bet than Mario Balotelli when it comes to filling the boots of Luis Suarez. At least he’ll break sweat.