London: Liverpool may try to take advantage of Manchester United's defensive crisis by giving record signing Andy Carroll his debut in Sunday's highly anticipated northwest derby.
United, which leads the Premier League by four points despite having lost two of its last four matches, go into the game at Anfield without central defenders Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans.
A thigh injury has prevented Carroll from playing for Liverpool since his 35 million pound ($56 million) move from Newcastle on January 31 but this could be the perfect occasion for the England striker to make his debut.
"Whether he will be involved on Sunday, I'm sure Fergie (United manager Alex Ferguson) would love to know," Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said.
"We have said all along we have been delighted with his progress and what he has done. There has not been anything which he has done which has not been encouraging."
United's first stumble of the season has coincided with the absence of key defensive players.
Ferdinand and Evans have missed the last few weeks through injury, while Gary Neville retired last month. Fellow right back Rafael has been absent through a mixture of injury and suspension.
To make matters worse ahead of this weekend, Vidic is suspended after receiving a red card in the 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Tuesday. Left back Patrice Evra is an injury doubt.
A central-defensive combination of the rarely used Wes Brown and the inexperienced Chris Smalling could struggle if Carroll is chosen to play up front with Luis Suarez, another recent Liverpool signing.
"Obviously the Carroll-Suarez (partnership) is something everyone's been talking about since the January window when we brought them both in and it will be nice to see them as a partnership sometime in the future," Liverpool assistant manager Steve Clarke said.
United has played a game more than second-place Arsenal, which hosts Sunderland on Saturday. Ferguson's team is looking to bounce back from the defeat to Chelsea, the defending champion which is still not out of the title race.
"At this club, you have to recover," Ferguson said. "That result has put us back but we have to recover for Sunday's game against Liverpool. We didn't deserve to lose (at Chelsea)."
Arsenal was beaten 2-1 by Birmingham in last Sunday's League Cup final but is still involved in three competitions as it looks to end a six-year trophy drought.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger acknowledged United's recent defeats to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea have left the door open.
"For us, it keeps us in the race. If we win our games, it just depends on us," said Wenger, whose side will host United in the run-in.
"It's down to our results and it depends how consistent we can be. What's important for us now is to be strong at home. We dropped points at home at the start of the season but since December, we have been strong at home and that will be vital for us."
Third-place Manchester City host bottom side Wigan in one of six other games on Saturday.
Birmingham are at home to West Bromwich Albion in a central England derby match, second-bottom West Ham host Stoke, Aston Villa travel to Bolton, Blackburn visit Fulham and Newcastle host Everton.
On Sunday, fifth-place Tottenham are at Wolves and Chelsea look to build on its morale-boosting win over United when they go to Blackpool on Monday.
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