Sir Alex Ferguson does not believe there is any fixture in the Premier League like Manchester United against Liverpool. This season's first match between the rival clubs takes place at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Liverpool's wait for a 19th league title has now lasted 20 years. In that time United have won 11 titles, joining their old rivals on 18 overall. Ferguson, who once said his greatest achievement had been knocking Liverpool off their perch, is preparing to face a seventh manager of that rival club since he came south from Aberdeen in 1986. Before coming up against his old friend Roy Hodgson, the Scot described what the fixture meant to him.
"I sound like a parrot but this is the fixture. There is no question about that," he said. "It doesn't change. The form fluctuates quite a bit but we won the last game so hopefully that turns it back towards us again."
From the 1996 FA Cup final to March 2000 United went 10 games unbeaten against Liverpool. Liverpool then won five in a row from December 2000 to January 2002. More recently, United won four successive games from October 2006, the match immediately after Alan Smith's horrific leg injury, before Liverpool responded with three straight wins, each of which involved a red card for Nemanja Vidic.
United won the last meeting between the two sides, in March, when Park Ji-sung scored the winning goal.
Relations between the two managers should be more friendly now Hodgson has replaced Rafael Benítez at Liverpool. Ferguson did not enjoy a convivial relationship with the Spaniard. Hodgson, however, has a friendship with Ferguson that dates back to the Scot's early days at United.
"I have known him for a long time," said Ferguson. "I first met him in 1987 when I went on an aborted trip to Malmo. It was a European tie against Ajax and they abandoned it after one minute. He was at the game and we went for dinner afterwards.
"Roy has the experience. He has gathered a wealth of experience in Italy, Switzerland and Finland and the job he did at Fulham was absolutely extraordinary. "But our approach will not change. We have to express ourselves the way we always do."