Alan Hansen's column Alan Hansen By Alan Hansen BBC Sport football expert I cannot remember a decision as bad as the penalty awarded to Chelsea on Sunday going against me during my career There have been false dawns before but this time I think Liverpool are here to stay. They look as though they have a squad capable of competing for the Premier League title - Andriy Voronin and Yossi Benayoun, for example, did not even make the bench for Sunday's game with Chelsea. We will have to wait and see what happens over the course of the campaign but it is an absolute certainty that they will be a lot closer to Manchester United and Chelsea than last season. Liverpool will be distraught not to have beaten Chelsea at Anfield. There was not a lot between the two teams but Liverpool deserved to win because they scored a well-created goal while Chelsea's equaliser was a gift. Refereeing is a hard business, all about split-second decisions, so I do not want to be too critical but referee Rob Styles made a bad mistake in awarding Chelsea a penalty. As a player you are inevitably going to be on the end of bad decisions from time to time but I cannot remember one as bad as that during my career, certainly given that it came at such a crucial time in a big match. Chelsea have not really been firing yet but Sunday's result means they have picked up seven points from their opening three games. Manchester United, in contrast, have two points from their first three fixtures. As I have said before, you cannot win the title in the first six-to-eight matches but you can certainly lose it. Man Utd's fixture at home to Tottenham next Sunday is a must-win game I'm not saying that this has already happened to United but they are five points behind Chelsea and making up that gap is a big ask. I thought that United's overall performance at Manchester City on Sunday was really good, especially given that it was a derby. But it is goals that win you matches and the reality is that United have scored just one in three games. With both Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo injured they are missing a lot in the final third and they lack a proven goalscorer. A lot of the new players that have come in to the club have done OK but that is not enough. When you join a top club you have to perform better than really good, you have to do great. Having said that, Owen Hargreaves made an excellent debut for United and they still look very strong defensively. If they can get Ronaldo and Rooney back and in form there is no reason why they cannot start making up ground. But they must win at home to Tottenham next Sunday. It is a huge fixture for both clubs after their indifferent starts.