Man United Squad:
Starting Line-Up: Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva, Smalling, Brown, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Berbatov and Rooney.
Substitutes: Kuszczak, Hernandez, Fabio, O'Shea, Fletcher, Obertan, Gibson.
The Game:
Liverpool put Man United under pressure from very early on, Raul Meireles cross found Luis Suarez, who was unable to collect the ball and Edwin Van Der Sar collected. Maxi Rodriguez also had an early effort but he dragged his shot well wide.
Man United started to settle down more, just after 15 minutes Dimitar Berbatov's 25 strike hit the outside of Pepe Reina's post. That was immediately followed by another chance for Liverpool, Suarez' ball into the box was nodded back in front of goal by Meireles but Dirk Kuyt was unable to get onto the end it.
Liverpool had their first goal in the 34th minute. Suarez beat Rafael Da Silva, Michael Carrick and Wes Brown, he then hit the ball past Van Der Sar and Dirk Kuyt was there to make sure the ball went over the line.
It didn't take long for them to get their second after some awful defending by United. A cross into the area was headed backward by Luis Nani, which set up Kuyt and he capatalised on Nani's error and gave Liverpool a two goal cushion.
Just before half time a terrible, high challenge by Jamie Carragher on Nani resulted in the Portuguese winger being stretchered off. Carragher should have been shown a red card, but somehow got away with it and was only shown a yellow. That was followed by a few minutes of chaos, there were a few scuffles and Van Der Sar talked his way into the book.
Then a challenge by Rafael Da Silva on Lucas created some more scuffles. Rafael was shown a yellow card, he was very lucky not to receive a red card.
The first chance of the second half fell to Liverpool, Kuyt fed the ball to Steven Gerrard, he decided to shoot but the ball was blocked by Wes Brown.
Five minutes into the second half, there was an opportunity for both sides. The first saw Suarez find Meireles but Van Der Sar grabbed the ball. That was then followed by a chance for Javier Hernandez, who had replaced Nani but he was unable to get his shot on target.
Ryan Giggs came close to pulling on back for United, unfortunately his half-volley flew over the bar. United started to dominate possession, just before the hour mark, United nearly pulled a goal back. A United corner ended with Berbatov's header being cleared off the line.
Just as Man United were looking like they could possibly get back into the game, another defensive error lead to a hat-trick for Kuyt. A free-kick taken by Suarez was split by Van Der Sar, Kuyt was there to score Liverpool's third.
With the game basically over, not much really happened until injury time. Three minutes had been added on and United scored a consolation goal. Giggs' chipped a cross in and Hernandez headed the ball past Reina.
Liverpool won the game 3-1, Man United are three points ahead of Arsenal but have played a game extra.
Next up for Manchester United is an FA Cup game against Arsenal, next Saturday at Old Trafford.
