The fixture is bolstered by the return of England international defender Rio Ferdinand, who is set to make his first appearance in a United jersey since his 8 months drugs ban.

United's defence has been a shambles in recent weeks but boss Sir Alex Ferguson insists the poor results United have endured will change thanks to Ferdinand. "You will see the results will change." said the Scotsman.

"Until Rio went away, the back four never changed and we got the results that justifies that continuity."

He added: "Rio has done fantastically well. You need a lot of patience and sacrifice because after training every day, you don't have the joy of playing on a Saturday."

Rafa Benitez, a Uefa Cup and La Liga winning boss, has 'Spaniard-ized' his Liverpool outfit with the likes of Luis Garcia and Xavi Alonso and has produced some decent results so far.

Benitez has guided his Reds to 7 points from 4 games in the Premiership whilst United have earned just 6 points from 5 games so far. Liverpool also have made a better start in the Champions League, winning their opening game against Monaco 2-0.

The Spaniard manager has compared the 8pm kick-off to playing the likes of giants Barcelona and Real Madrid whilst at Valencia, last season. "I am looking forward to the atmosphere. The fans are excited, they shout at each other but at the end they walk out together." said Benitez.

"It is a similar rivalry to facing Barcelona or Real Madrid while I was with Valencia. I want to win and we will try to do that." he added.

Following their Champions League victory, Liverpool have a full, injury free squad.

Louis Saha is ruled out with a knee injury, meanwhile, Sir Alex Ferguson is likely to keep faith in Tim Howard rather than Roy Carroll, despite pulling off some costly goalkeeping blunders.

Talk of Wayne Rooney making the substitute bench is a realistic prospect.

ManUtdWeb Prediction: Manchester United 1 - 1 Liverpool: In the words of Kevin Keegan: "I would LOVE IT if we beat them".. but sadly I think Liverpool are too strong for our team at the moment. If Rio and Rooney had games under their belt and Neville was injury-free, we'd beat them, I'm sure. All I can say is Come On United!