A hurting Manchester United will want to put the weekend's shocking derby defeat to rivals Manchester City firmly out of their mind when they welcome West Brom to Old Trafford. Kick-off is at 3pm and the match won't be televised live in the UK.
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5. They Are The Champions
No team in the history of the Premier League has won the title and struggled the following year as badly as Manchester United have so far. 7 points out of a possible 15 is simply not good enough for the defending champions and a gap of 5 points off the top spot already exists. Sure we are only 5 games into the new season. Sure they have a new manager finding his feet. But the facts remain that defending a title seem much harder then winning it in the first place as proved by Man City last year and by the likes of Arsenal and Blackburn in the past. There has always been a certain level of swagger associated with Manchester United, and quite rightly as their record of winning trophies speaks for itself but as Liverpool fans can attest, you can't live on past glories. Peter Schmichael came out this week as saying he is not confident that United will retain their title and going as far as saying due to all the recent changes they won't win the league. That coming from a Man Utd legend speaks volumes about the poor start they have suffered and combined with talks of 'recovery' further give reason to believe a win over West Brom is vital. The team that is leading the way by Christmas tends to go on and win the league, with rare exception, so getting points on the board early is a must for any serious title contender as proved by the strong starts made by Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs.