Paul Ince: Manchester United Have No Fear For Liverpool Visit

Manchester United will have no fear going into their Premier League clash with Liverpool this weekend, says Paul Ince.

Louis van Gaal’s men host their bitter rivals at Old Trafford, live on Super Sunday, off the back of five straight league wins.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have been struggling for consistency and go into the match with dampened spirits after crashing out of the Champions League in midweek.

Ince – who played in this fixture for both clubs – believes both sets of fans are not happy with their sides’ performances at the moment, but is backing the hosts to maintain their good run of results.

“I think the fans are frustrated – the Liverpool fans are frustrated because they’ve lost Luis Suarez and not really replaced him,” he said.

“United are not really playing well at the moment, but they’re winning games – they’ve won five on the bounce – and the sign of a good team is that when you’re struggling you’re winning games. I think United, form-wise, will have more confidence going into this game than Liverpool.

“Van Persie’s starting to score goals now, Wayne Rooney’s always likely to do something special. The problem I have with Liverpool is that they’re not scoring enough goals.”

After losing three Premier League games on the bounce, Liverpool have won two of their last three but laboured to their win over Stoke while being held at Anfield by Sunderland.

The key for Liverpool, Ince believes, is to use their successes at Old Trafford – including their 3-0 win there in March – as motivation to get a result and to get their season back on track.

“United won’t fear Liverpool coming to Old Trafford, but Liverpool will feel from recent games there that they’ve got a chance and I’m sure Brendan will say to his team, ‘this could be the turning point for us’,” he said.

“If they can get a win at Old Trafford it’ll be a massive boost for everyone at Liverpool.”

Both managers have felt the weight of expectation after bringing in plenty of new faces, but Ince says everyone needs patience to see their investment take hold.

“When you spend a lot of money like Brendan has and Van Gaal has, they expect immediate success,” he added.

“I know from playing under Sir Alex Ferguson for so many years that you don’t get that. You have to build a team.”