Liverpool 0-1 Man Utd

GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Man Utd (Tevez 43) Where did that come from? From a United corner, Giggs slashes it to the edge of the area where Rooney shoots towards goal. And, from two yards out, Tevez scoops it high into the net!

42 min Liverpool are on top at the moment, but - that Torres header apart - haven't really looked like scoring. Evra, Anderson and Hargreaves are impressing for United; Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez have meek-child-like quiet. "Volcanity sounds more like it!" says Roland Dehousse from Brussels. "See European civil servants and translators do have a use!"

40 min And breathe.

39 min Brown sees yellow for hauling down Kewell, 30 yards out and central. It's Gerrard terrority, and Riise duly serves up the free-kick. It clatters into the wall, spins violently towards Torres, who half dinks it, half shoots it, back into the danger area. It misses the Liverpool players and the post by a metre or so, and United survive.

37 min Now Riise speculates from distance ... but it flies well wide of Van Der Sar's left-hand post. "I'm in Florida, my Setanta North America feed has decided not to work this morning so I'm stuck listening to the game on the radio," says Jon Cummins. "And now i see that you're doing the MBM instead of Glendenning. I'm not sure what I'm more angry about." Don't worry Jon, Barry will be reporting on Arsenal v Chelsea later.

35 min Gerrard and Anderson, who've been locking horns like particularly frisky stags during mating season, both get yellow cards after tangling again.

33 min Van Der Sar tries to claim a long Gerrard free-kick but crashes into Vidic and tumbles over. Torres heads it towards goal, but Evra is quick enough to clear off the line. Ferdinand and Van Der Sar scream at each other, before touching fists to apologise.

31 min A great rampaging run from Anderson ends when Gerrard makes a superb sliding challenge from behind. "I'm here in Toronto and that blizzard outside my window is two or three notches more entertaining than this sorry kickabout," reckons Richard Whitall. I agree the quality hasn't been up to much, Richard, but it's slowly beginning to open up.

29 min First real chance of the game goes to Liverpool! After Gerrard's corner is headed back towards his own goal by Ferdinand, Torres blatantly pushes Van der Sar ... however the referee doesn't give it! Anderson has to clear it off his own line, but it falls to Torres, three yards out, who heads just wide. You can only imagine the volcanicness (is that a word?) of Fergie's rage if that had gone in.

27 min Referee Mark Halsey is peep-peeping his whistle, trying to bring the players under control after trouble flares between Kewell and Hargreaves (Kewell left his boot in) and Riise and Hargreaves (Hargreaves left his boot in). In the end, he decides a talk to all concerned is enough to calm the situation.

25 min "I'm in South Korea and the damn internet streaming has gone down!" curses Alex Hall. "Looks like I'll be relying on your wonderfully crafted words of near poetic imagery to get me through this one. How's Anderson doing?" OK, I think, Alex. In truth it's hard to make concrete evaluations at the moment, the ball is pinging around with pinball-wizard frenzy. Just then Anderson trids to get his foot on the ball but was quickly chopped down by Steven Gerrard.

22 min Torres drifts inside at half-pace before dramatically cutting inside and accelerating into the box. But Hargreaves watches him like a Hawk makes an excellent slide tackle.

19 min Ronaldo's daisycutter of a free-kick goes straight to Carragher and is easily cleared. United, who are having slightly the better of this, come straight back and demand another free-kick when Ronaldo tumbles on the edge of the area. It's no surprise that replays show that Ronaldo dived - or that he escapes a yellow card.

17 min Yellow card! Evra for tripping Benayoun. "Our friend in Ottawa needs to go to the Georgetowne Pub down Bank Street," says Rudy Broers. "It will have the game on ... and then the other game. Can someone find me the game in Madagascar?" I could wax lyrical about Madagascar - it's a wonderful country - but there's no time as Ronaldo is lining up a free-kick on the right.

15 min Superb defending from Carragher! Evra cuts inside from the left and crosses into the six-yard box, where Rooney is lurking. Yet Carragher, who is second-favourite, stretches to block.

13 mi From 20 yards, Torres feints to shoot. Ferdinand buys it, and does a 180 quicker than Rocket Ronnie Baxter in his prime, but Torres' eventual shot goes well wide. "I'm a journo with the Canberra Times," says James Massola. "It's gone midnight here in Oz and in four hours I'm going up in a hot air balloon for a story. I'm following this on my web browser on my BlackBerry so my girlfriend does not wake up as she is driving me to the drop off. Liverpool better bloody win!". It's very even so far.

10 min Cristiano Ronaldo gets on the ball for the first time and jinks infield before unleashing a thunderous shot from 30 yards which skids off Carragher's backside for a corner. Giggs' delivery is poor, however, and Liverpool clear.

8 min As you might expect, the atmosphere has been much better than the game so far. After Brown chops down Kewell on the left, Liverpool's free-kick is clear to Hyypia, who lets fly from 45 yards ... high, wide and into row Z.

6 min United are playing it backwards, trying to take the pace out of the game. As they do so, 30,000-odd Liverpool fans suggest that Wayne Rooney needs to lose some weight.

4 min Gerrard curls the free-kick in, Vidic heads half-clear, someone overhead kicks it back into the area and Hyppia scoops a shot, from 12 yards, over the bar.

3 min The opening is predictably fast and furious. Torres wins a free-kick after being cynically hauled down by Vidic. "I am stuck in a hotel room in Ottawa, listening to the game on radio as it is not available on conventional cable television, and there is a blizzard bearing down on the city," says Brian Harvey (not theBrian Harvey?). "Harbinger of a scouse storm at Anfield with the return of Rooney?" Not sure about that, Brian. "The inclusion of Anderson, at the expense of Carrick, is brilliant. The latter is still showing some rust; the former has been nothing short of superb in his debut season. I am confident he has the temperament for this challenge, but what a challenge for such a youngster!" We're about to find out.

1 min We're off! United, kicking from left to right on my television get proceedings underway. The odds: Liverpool 7-4, Manchester United 21-10, draw 21-10. That United price looks tempting; they've won four and drawn one of their last five visits to Anfield.

Correction and clarification Ah. The stadium Richard Keys and the Sky TV team are sitting in is the Emirates ... which is indeed empty, because the Arsenal v Chelsea game doesn't kick off until 4pm. Anfield, however, is jam-packed with fans from both sides braying and demanding victory. I'll get my coat.

Atmosphere You'd expect it to be as fiery as a furnace, but right now Anfield is still nearly completely empty, even though the game kicks off in 15 minutes. "Good luck, Sean," says Ian Copestake, who seems to assume that I'm playing in today's game. "Hope you've had a good pre-match warm-up." A slice of frittata, a mince pie and a quick dash through Rachmaninov's second piano concerto just to loosen the fingers.

Preamble: Good afternoon everyone. During the 1970s and 80s, it was possible to come from way off the pace at Christmas and win the league - as Liverpool proved time and time again. These days I'm not sure that's possible, which is why today's game is huge for Rafa Benitez's side. Win and they're right back in the mix. Lose and they're nine points off the pace and surely heading for their 18th season in a row without a league title. The stakes, like a pile-'em-high eaterie in Argentina, couldn't be much higher.

Team news: Liverpool are unchanged from the side that beat Marseille, while United have replaced Michael Carrick with Owen Hargreaves. Meanwhile your emails are flooding in. "Many will be wondering which of the Liverpool team's players' houses will be robbed while they are at work today," suggests Derrick East. "Myself, I hope history repeats itself and as last year, the whole team is robbed again, in broad daylight, in front of 60,000 witnesses, by a last gasp winner from Manchester United."

Teams:

Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Carragher, Riise, Benayoun, Gerrard, Mascherano, Kewell, Torres, Kuyt. Subs: Itandje, Aurelio, Crouch, Babel, Lucas.Man Utd: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Anderson, Giggs, Rooney, Tevez. Subs: Kuszczak, Saha, Carrick, O'Shea, Fletcher.Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)