Are you calm and collected? You shouldn’t be. This is Manchester United v Liverpool.

By Amy Quinn, writing from Dublin

The eve is upon us, and looking around me, I find it inherently strange that there are Liverpool fans with calm heads. No other game gives me quite the same sense of uneasiness, a knot in my stomach. Obviously, it’s a wonderful match to win, but it’s a difficult, if never very surprising, match to lose. Coming from a town and a family that seems to contain representation from both of England’s most successful sides, there will be no shortage of banter tomorrow. My contribution to said banter will be delivered from under some piece of furniture, probably, as I shelter from the fallout.

Somehow, nothing quite stresses me like this fixture. I am never optimistic about our chances, even when there is every reason to be. Most of my childhood was spent only watching these North Lancashire derby ties. Certainly it is a match that raises pulses and sizzles with intensity. Some people enjoy those matches that are like a stretched elastic - bursting with kinetic energy, ready to pop at any given moment. For me, it means constant nausea and near-heart attacks. Yes, I do take football too seriously.

(Source: matchcentre)