John Barnes has claimed that Liverpool are “not in direct competition” with Man Utd despite their league positioning.
The Red Devils are three points clear at the top of the Premier League with arch-rivals Liverpool trailing them in second place.
Man Utd travel to Anfield on Sunday, knowing a win will put them six points ahead of the defending champions.
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However, Barnes doesn’t see Man Utd as competition for Liverpool with the Red Devils only a “bad news” story away from collapsing.
Barnes told BonusCodeBets: “Liverpool are not in direct competition with Manchester United in my opinion. Liverpool are only in competition with Manchester City for the title. There is of course competition because it’s Liverpool vs Manchester United and all of the history that comes with it, they are the two biggest clubs in the Premier League.
“But in reality, in terms of the favourites to win the league, it is whoever finishes higher than Liverpool or Manchester City.
“It’s good for Manchester United that even after getting knocked out of the League Cup by or not progressing in the Champions League that they’re actually managing some consistency in the league.
“But of course, that can change if they (Manchester United) lose one or two matches because we still understand that the harmony of Manchester United isn’t completely right. There are question marks about Pogba, is Ole the right manager for them, we still aren’t sure.
“If Manchester United really wanted to make a big push, they should all get behind the manager and support the cause, because they haven’t done that. Bad news stories have to stop coming out to Manchester United for them to maintain further consistency.”