United unscathed after CSKA victory

Manchester United look in the best shape for Sunday's blockbusting encounter at Liverpool after coming through last night's Champions League test in Moscow unscathed.

While Liverpool must arrest a four-game losing run to halt a growing crisis at Anfield, United travel having shrugged off the absence of several key players to beat CSKA Moscow 1-0 in the Russian capital.

United had to wait until 86 minutes to secure their success, Antonio Valencia lashing home from a Dimitar Berbatov header, but Alex Ferguson's men had few alarms on the Luzhniki Stadium's artificial pitch.

Ferguson will now hope to welcome back the likes of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra to pile on the misery for their fierce but troubled rivals.

Yesterday's win took United to nine points from their opening three games in Group B and they look well on course for a place in the knockout stages.

The Scot said: "I have always maintained that you need 10 to qualify.

"We now have a home game against CSKA in two or three weeks' time which we hope can take us to the next stage."

Ferguson felt his team had earned reward for a professional performance against former Tottenham boss Juande Ramos' latest side.

He said: "In the first half I think we played with a lot of patience, which is necessary when you are playing away from home.

"Experience in these sort of situations is always vital.

"In the second half I think we increased the tempo of the game and got more penetration.