Liverpool take on Manchester City at Anfield this afternoon in what most people are calling a title decider.
That is the worst case scenario for Manchester United fans who are facing the prospect of their two greatest rivals lifting the Premier League trophy.
Choosing who they would rather win is a decision which United legend Gary Neville described on Sky as ‘like having a choice of two blokes to nick your wife’.
The simple fact is that for the majority of United fans the choice is simple – as hard as it would be to stomach, they would much rather see City win the league than Liverpool.
The rivalry with Liverpool stretches back through decades of history between England’s two most successful clubs.
It is a rivalry which runs far deeper than just football.
Stretching back to the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal in the late 1800s, the two cities have become fiercely competitive on all fronts and none more so than football.
When Sir Alex Ferguson took over at Old Trafford in 1986 he vowed to ‘knock Liverpool off their perch’.
That was because prior to the Scot’s arrival at United, Liverpool were the dominant force.
United won their first league title for 26 years in the inaugural Premier League in 1992.
In that time Liverpool had won 11 league titles but have not been domestic champions since Ferguson’s arrival in Manchester.
For the last 22 seasons United have been the kings of English football – claiming 13 Premier League crowns.
United fans have loved rubbing Liverpool fans noses in it and have had plenty of opportunity to mock the Anfield club over the last two decades.
It has become a matter of pride for United fans that Liverpool haven’t been able to add to their league titles while they have been so dominant.
Now, with the David Moyes era getting off to a difficult start at Old Trafford, Brendan Rogers’ Liverpool have taken their chance to re-emerge as a genuine title threat.
Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez have ignited this Liverpool side, who this season are free from the burden of European football, and allowed them to sneak under the radar from dark horses to title favourites.
The prospect of Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard lifting the trophy at the end of the season is the worst case scenario for United fans.
It was hard for them to stomach in 2012 when City claimed their first Premier League crown – pipping United on goal difference on the final day of the season.
Liverpool would be a far more unbearable experience.
The rivalry with Manchester City is a fairly new issue for United supporters as City had not been a significant threat until the millions arrived from the Middle East in 2008.
Before that, City were purely a rival with United based upon geographical location rather than any footballing reasons due to the Blue half of Manchester having achieved so little for such a long time.
When City bought their way to the title in 2012 it was a bitter pill to swallow but the fact is that the rivalry with Liverpool is so much more intense and spans across a far wider sphere than just football.
A Liverpool title win would represent a changing of the ways in English football and accepting that would be much more painful for the red half of Manchester.
A City win would be somewhat of a case of better the devil you know for United. They got over it last time and it and they would get over it again.
If the Premier League title heads to Anfield in May it would not be such an easy task to recover from.
Of course Chelsea cannot be ruled out of the title race, but the odds are in favour of Liverpool and City.
While Neville indicates that the choice is impossible, it actually is very straightforward.
Manchester City are not that big a deal to the majority of United supporters – certainly in comparison to Liverpool where the hatred runs much deeper.
The history of United and Liverpool is what sets that rivalry apart and makes it a very easy decision for Red Devil fans to back their cross-city rivals for the title over Liverpool.
In comparison to Liverpool, with Shankly, Dalglish and all that goes with the club, City are irrelevant.
Come Sunday, when the two title favourites kick off, the red half of Manchester will be firmly behind the Blues, as even the unbearable prospect of City lifting the trophy is preferable to Liverpool returning to the top of the tree in English football.
Picture courtesy of Emirates UAE27, with thanks.
