You couldn’t have made this one up
You’d be hard pushed to find the last time Manchester United and Liverpool played each other with both sides yet to win a league game.
But that is the situation going into tomorrow night’s clash at Old Trafford.
The Anfield club have drawn their opening two matches against Fulham and Crystal Palace, while United have lost at home to Brighton and away to Brentford.
For both clubs, it’s not been the start dreams are made of.
But that will not matter. This is a prestigious fixture on the calendar, and the whole country is looking forward to it.
There appears to be a lot to sort out at United, and the new manager, Erik ten Hag, doesn’t have his troubles to seek.
Whether some of the things that are being said and written are genuine or fictitious, I don’t know, but I’m sure Erik would rather most of it remained behind closed doors.
He will want to focus purely on trying to get a winning team on the pitch.
Last week at Brentford, they were given a torrid time, and the London club had clearly prepared superbly well to run out 4-0 winners.
David de Gea didn’t cover himself in glory, but he has been brilliant for many, many years at United. He shouldn’t be held responsible for the result.
But tomorrow night’s clash is only the third Premier League game of the season, and there is plenty of time to turn things around.
The United supporters are restless, and a victory over their great rivals would see them in a more forgiving mood – but not everything would be forgotten.
Jurgen Klopp and his players will go to Old Trafford feeling they can get a victory.
There was a 5-0 destruction on that very ground last season, but I can’t see it being like that in this one.
That kind of result only comes around every so often.
But Liverpool should go there in a positive frame of mind, looking to win to kick-start their league season.