Former Liverpool captain Ronnie Whelan still expects Manchester United to pip his old club for the Premiership title this season.

He told the Daily Mail: "United have been through it and done it so often - the manager has done it so many times, and many players have done it so many times. I still make them slight favourites ahead of Liverpool."

Nevertheless, Whelan is excited at the way the season is developing for his old club, especially Sunday's 5-1 demolition of Newcastle - a game he watched on TV during a Caribbean cruise with his family but can't stop talking about.

"It could have been eight or nine. The win at Chelsea earlier in the season was very good, a professional win the way they went about it. But to go to Newcastle and take them apart has to be the best performance of the season for me."