Ed Chamberlin looks at Kenny Dalglish's chances of improving his record against Sir Alex Ferguson.
Stats suggest Dalglish has everything to prove against United
It's been another extraordinary week at the top, middle and bottom of the Barclays Premier League.
From Chelsea's dramatic and controversial victory over Manchester United, which blew the title race open, to the wins for West Ham and Wolves that further congested the relegation battle, it means that every match from now until the end of the season will have a bearing on either the race for the title and European places or the battle to avoid relegation.
It's going to be a thrilling end to the season.
Sky Bet's title odds: 2/3 Man Utd, 6/4 Arsenal, 10/1 Chelsea, 66/1 Man City, 150/1 Tottenham, 500/1 Liverpool
I'm presenting Super Sunday for the first time this weekend with two brilliant matches to look forward to: Liverpool v Manchester United and Wolves v Tottenham.
The game at Anfield is massive. If it's half as good as the game in September then it should be good. United won 3-2 with Dimitar Berbatov scoring twice to put United in control before a Steven Gerrard brace levelled the game at 2-2 with 20 minutes to go. Berbatov then completed his hat-trick, scoring the winner with six minutes to go.
United are now aiming to do the Premier League double over Liverpool for the sixth time. Add to the importance of the match the magic of Liverpool against Manchester United, Ryan Giggs set to break Sir Bobby Charlton's League appearance record and all the history between Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson and you've got a potential classic.
Dalglish has not won any of his last seven managerial meetings in all competitions against Sir Alex Ferguson and has only won one of the last 13.
Man Utd have won 12 of the last 17 League meetings and Liverpool have lost more PL games (20) and conceded more goals (55) v Man Utd than anyone else.
Man Utd have won more PL points (30) at Liverpool than any other visiting team - the next most successful visitors to Anfield are Arsenal who have taken 18 points here.
The stats point to Manchester United, who are 8/5 with Sky Bet to win at Anfield again (Liverpool 17/10) but can you back them without Ferdinand or Vidic at the back?
Liverpool v Man Utd
Hope you can join me, Graeme Souness and Ray Wilkins from 1pm on Sunday on Sky Sports HD1.
How will Arsenal bounce back from the devastating defeat against Birmingham in the Carling Cup Final?
They will have been lifted by their FA Cup win on Wednesday and Man Utd's defeat, which saw Arsenal shorten to 6/4 to win the title. They play Sunderland, who have never won at Arsenal in the PL - nine games, seven defeats - and last won in the League there in November 1983, the same month as the Brinks Mat robbery. I doubt they'll be able to steal a win on Saturday.
Arsenal v Sunderland
As well as opening the door for Arsenal in the title race, Chelsea's win heaped the pressure back on Roberto Mancini.
Prior to the Manchester derby I was talking up City's chances of winning the title. Now they are in an almighty battle to finish in the top four and have drifted to 1/3 to do so. They play Wigan on Saturday, who have scored just two goals in the last ten meetings at City and the home side look a good bet to 'win to nil' at 6/5.
Man City v Wigan
The big game at the bottom is Birmingham against West Brom, which kicks off the weekend on Sky Sports at 12.30pm on HD2.
West Brom's last top flight win at St Andrews was 1-0 in February 1986. Billy Ocean was number one in the charts with "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going". The going has got tough at the bottom of the Premier League - who will be tough enough to survive?
Birmingham v West Brom
West Ham scuppered our 'bet of the week' with a brilliant performance against Liverpool and this week I'm going to side with the Hammers.
With Scott Parker in the side they are a match for anyone and meet Stoke in the middle of an awful run away from home. They have lost their last five away games and failed to score in four of them. They have now lost ten of their 14 Premier League away games - only Wolves (11) have lost more.
I presented Stoke's game on Monday Night Football, which Tony Pulis described as their worst performance of the season. Saturday will be a tough task for which I'm surprised to see West Ham trading at odds against and they are my 'bet of the week' at 5/4.
West Ham v Stoke
Some good and curious news for our Cheltenham portfolio this week. The curious was Andy Stewart in
The Times saying that he thought Ghizao probably wouldn't be good enough to win the Arkle - he seemed confident when I interviewed him two weeks ago! The momentum amongst pundits at the Preview nights seems to be with Medermit, though Ghizao still looks rick solid to me and I can see Finian's Rainbow being a big drifter on the day.
The good news was the upbeat report from Noel Meade about Pandorama, who is working well ahead of the Gold Cup. I hope we get some rain between now and March 18th.
I want to add another horse in the big race - Albertas Run at 100/1. Sky Bet's offer of non-runner no bet makes this an attractive option as if Albertas Run turns up and the ground is decent, there is no way that a former RSA winner and the reigning Ryanair champion, who has won three of his five starts at Cheltenham, should be 100/1. He has got to bounce back from a horrible fall at Ascot and a poor run in the King George but he's done similar before and is a spring horse who is infinitely better on decent ground, which he has not had so far this season. Just imagine if Tony McCoy was to take the ride...
Another horse I fancy at a big price is Solix in the Coral Cup. He doesn't fit the trends in Paul Jones' excellent Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide but I always like to back a horse in this race that runs well in the Totesport Trophy and had one of my biggest ever Festival wins on Idole First a few years ago and the theory worked again last year with Spirit River.
I loved the look of Solix in the Newbury paddock but he didn't look quite ready for the test and he drifted dramatically in the market but he still ran well under a big weight on his first start in England. The stable think a lot of him, he should improve massively from that run and find the extra half mile right up his street. I'll be backing Solix as soon as Sky Bet go non-runner no bet on the race.
Ante-post portfolio
Ghizao to win the Arkle @ 5/1
Spirit Son to win the Supreme Novices @ 16/1
Solix each-way in the Coral Cup
Albertas Run each-way in the Gold Cup @ 100/1 (NRNB)
Pandorama to win the Gold Cup @ 14/1
England have single-handedly made the World Cup interesting so far with a mixed display against the Netherlands, one of the all-time great one-dayers against India and a historic defeat to Ireland.
The tournament will take a while to warm up yet but I'm still happy with our bet on India to win it.
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