Luis Suarez ready for Old Trafford return

Luis Suarez is preparing to run the Old Trafford gauntlet when the Liverpool striker faces Manchester United for the first time since his ban for racially abusing Patrice EvraThe Uruguayan returned from his eightmatch suspension when he appeared as a substitute against Tottenham on Monday but is expected to start for the Reds in the latest instalment of the northwest giants bitter rivalry The two clubs met in the FA Cup at Anfield only a fortnight ago with Liverpool winning a largely troublefree game 21 However the tie was soured by the relentless barracking of Evra by Liverpool fans and the subsequent arrest of one fan on suspicion of making racist taunts to the French international Mindful of the potential for Saturdays fixture to turn ugly both United and Liverpool officials have attempted to defuse tensions with calls for calm Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said Suarez had been instructed to shake Evras hand in the prematch ritual I thought everyone involved in the FA Cup tie at Anfield played their part in making sure that the match was played in the right way so lets make sure that happens again this weekend Dalglish saidIm sure people will want to talk about Luis Suarez but he accepted his ban served his suspension and returned against Spurs on Monday Its time for all of us to draw a line under what happened and move forward People are already speculating on the prematch ceremony but from Luiss point of view we have spoken to him and I know he will shake the hand of Patrice Evra and the other Manchester United players before the game Ferguson meanwhile spoke this week of his surprise at the reemergence of racist incidents in the English game I dont understand at all where its coming from Fergusons said This is a moment where we have to take stock and we should do something about it if its surfacing again and be really hard and firm on any form or shape of racism There have been a couple of examples recently which is not good In 2012 you cant believe it It was obvious maybe 20 years ago and the improvements have been for everyone to see While the animosity between Liverpool and United means Suarez is unlikely to be given an easy ride on Saturday fullback Glen Johnson has backed his teammate to cope with the bearpit atmosphere It is a tough place to go Old Trafford Luis is a strong character and he will try to let his football do the talking Johnson said He has had a long break now and hopefully he will be fresh and ready to put in a performance A victory for United will see Fergusons team inch one point clear of leaders Manchester City who travel to Aston Villa on Sunday after beating Fulham 30 last weekend Although City demolished Villa 41 earlier this sseason manager Roberto Mancini has said his team have been warned against complacency as they attempt to maintain their lead at the top We will have a difficult game but if we have the attitude that we had against Fulham we will do well Mancini said I think the all the remaining games are difficult Tottenham meanwhile will aim to celebrate a week which saw the acquittal of manager Harry Redknapp on tax evasion charges with a victory over Newcastle Redknapp strongly tipped to take over as the next England coach following the resignation of Fabio Capello is assured of a heros welcome at White Hart Lane in his first match since the conclusion of his court case The 64yearold insisted he had not even thought about the England job following his acquittal Ive got a job to do Redknapp said Ive got a big game on Saturday for Tottenham Tottenham is my focus Chelsea manager Andre VillasBoas has meanwhile said he is unfazed by the visit of the clubs billionaire owner Roman Abramovich at training this week The Russian tycoons appearance had been interpreted as a sign that support for VillasBoas is wavering but he Portuguese manager brushed off the suggestion as he prepared for this weeks trip to Everton You can speculate whatever you want but for us it is fantastic to have him here said VillasBoas It is not distracting not at allEPL Fixtures SaturdayMan Utd v LiverpoolBlackburn v QPRBolton v WiganEverton v ChelseaFulham v StokeSunderland v ArsenalSwansea v NorwichTottenham v NewcastleSundayWolves v West BromAston Villa v Manchester City