Manchester United legend: Daley Blind the key to beating Liverpool

The Red Devils travel to Anfield as the race for a Champions League finish heats up, knowing that a defeat to Brendan Rodgers will see their fierce rivals leapfrog them in the table.

Louis van Gaal has a number of decisions to make ahead of the clash following United's impressive 3-0 win over Tottenham last weekend.

And speaking to the club's official website, former star Irwin urged the Dutchman to keep Blind in his starting XI for the crunch clash.

He explained: "Daley's a good, honest pro. He can play at centre-half if you need him to, left-back if you need him to, and obviously he's played mostly in midfield for us this season. 

"I think he's been a really good signing. He's a player who reads situations very, very well. I thought he played extremely well on Sunday [against Spurs].

"It'll be interesting to see the team the manager picks against Liverpool, but it wouldn't surprise me if he picks the same 11 players, because they played so well.

"That's the manager's decision and he's got one or two back from suspension and injury, but I thought the team played very well on Sunday.

"I know Blind can fill in places and he's done tremendously well for us in midfield. He hasn't played at left-back that many times, he's not played centre-half in a three that many times for us but we know he can play there.

"That's for the manager to decide, but I've got to say he played very, very well at left-back on Sunday, as did the defence as a whole.

"I thought Phil Jones and Chris Smalling were aggressive, didn't give Harry Kane much room, and Antonio Valencia played really well at right-back, so it was good to see and we'll need plenty of that at Anfield."