Berbatov plans instant impact

United preview

DIMITAR Berbatov will make a mouth-watering debut for Manchester United at Liverpool tomorrow (12.45pm).

The Reds will be expecting the brilliant Bulgarian striker, a club-record capture from Tottenham, to start repaying his £30.75million transfer fee.

Anfield ought to be a perfect stage for Berbatov, who is viewed as the missing piece in Sir Alex Ferguson’s United jigsaw.

With Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez to play alongside Berbatov, and the injured Cristiano Ronaldo soon to return, United will have an abundance of attacking riches.

It has been a stop-start beginning to the Premier League for United, as tomorrow’s match will be only their third of the season.

Having played their European Super Cup clash against Zenit St Petersburg immediately before the international break, it is almost three weeks since the Reds last had a league game.

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that their early-season form has been patchy.

United opened with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle, triumphed 1-0 at Portsmouth and were beaten 2-1 by Zenit.

Liverpool have made a solid, rather than spectacular start. They have collected seven points from a possible nine, with one-goal margin of victories over Sunderland and Middlesbrough and a goalless draw against Aston Villa.

They also limped past Belgian side Standard Liege 1-0 over two legs in the qualifying round for the Champions League.

United will be looking forward to visiting Anfield, which has been a happy hunting ground in recent years.

United have won five times and drawn once in their last six visits, while their last league defeat at the ground was in November, 2001.

And their prospects of another success will increase if Liverpool are without key men Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, who contributed 54 goals between them last season.

Gerrard is recovering from an operation to cure a groin problem while Torres is troubled by a hamstring strain.

But even without Torres, who scored 33 goals in his debut season, Liverpool still have considerable fire power after spending £20m on Tottenham’s Robbie Keane during the summer.

Liverpool will hand a debut to Albert Riera, the left-sided Spaniard signed recently from Espanyol in an £8m deal.