From Oswestry to Oslo, Stockport to Shanghai, they’ll be tuning in on Saturday.

Around the world, when it hits 12.30 at Anfield it will also feel like 12.30 wherever they are.

Whether they’re five hours behind like they will be at Liverpool’s Boston Supporters Club in the Phoenix Landing Irish Bar, or 10 ahead as they will be at Sydney’s Scruffy Murphy’s, the home of the Manchester United Supporters Club of New South Wales , all minds will only be on one thing.

Liverpool fans show their support in the Premier League Asia Trophy in the summer (
Image:
2017 Getty Images)
While it was United's turn to head to the Far East last summer (
Image:
Man Utd via Getty)
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Liverpool and United aren’t the only two Premier League sides with fans in such far-flung places, of course, but whenever they meet comes confirmation that this is the game that the division sells itself on.

This is a meeting of the two powerhouses of England’s north-west that is at once both an intense local rivalry and completely global game.

The animosity between the cities has been there from the days when the Manchester Ship Canal challenged Liverpool’s port city for trading supremacy, but the modern Premier League fan in Mumbai, Beijing, New York or Copenhagen has little time for that.

So why is it so compelling?

Liverpool v Manchester United Premier League record

Liverpool wins

13

Man United wins

27

Draws

10

The Liverpool v United Premier League story is actually a pretty one sided one. United have won 27 of the 50 post-1992 league meetings, losing just 13.

So they’ve won more than twice the amount they’ve lost, which hardly reflects well on Liverpool at all or makes this out to be a titanic tussle. United have won 13 league titles in that time too. Liverpool zero.

With that in mind, Liverpool really should be thankful to their legion of overseas fans for keeping them relevant when the big clubs are discussed.

Liverpool's 2005 Champions League success kept fans happy (
Image:
Getty)

The Reds’ “glorious history” might grate a little with some when it is brought up, but it really is because of that that these fans are there, with the 2005 Champions League success – which by 2020 could become equidistant between Liverpool’s last league title and the present – coming at just the right time to reawaken any lost converts.

But time could be running out for Liverpool to keep those new fans flooding in, especially as the younger generation seem to be more interested in players rather than clubs.

United were cheered on by fans in the USA this summer (
Image:
Rex Features)

Amongst older groups though, that club-first loyalty is still evident.

Some might ridicule overseas fans for what they believe to be a lack of knowledge or passion, calling them “gloryhunters” or not “real” fans, but no-one should doubt the love for and knowledge of their club that millions and millions of people display around the world weekly.

The Premier League game is one that United have emphatically won – although a 2013 survey commissioned by the club themselves which states that they have 659 million fans worldwide might be a bit of a stretch.

Liverpool's relative lack of success hasn't dulled the rivalry... for now (
Image:
Getty Images)

The global fascination with this fixture is in Liverpool’s constant attempts to land blows on them, backed up by the weight of history and weary from having far too often punched themselves out.

Arsenal v United fixtures were great for a time, but there was never that historical context to it.

There might come a day when the Manchester rivalry becomes the big one, or in a few generations’ time there are enough Chelsea v Manchester City memories to talk about, but for now this is still the one.

And it’ll be so again at Anfield on Saturday at 12.30.

Wherever you are.

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