Liverpool vs Manchester Utd, match tips & line up. The greatest fixture in the English calendar will take on significantly more noteworthiness this end of the week when champions Liverpool host new Premier League leaders Manchester United at Anfield.
The two best clubs throughout the entire existence of English football at present possess the top two situations in the table, isolated by just three focuses heading into this mouth-watering Merseyside meeting.
Match preview
It is actually a year back to the day since these different sides last met, when Mohamed Salah raced clear at the Kop end to score Liverpool’s second objective in a 2-0 triumph – an objective and result which was broadly viewed as the second Liverpool fans felt sure enough to release their first genuine thunder of guarantee with respect to their title dry spell reaching a conclusion.
After a year, the scene on Sunday will be totally different; there will be no fans to observe this sparkler of a challenge between these two incredible opponents and, regardless of whether there were, they surely would not make any cases that the title is now theirs.
That triumph at Anfield sent Liverpool 16 focuses away from second-put Manchester City and an incredible 30 above Man United, yet this time around it is the Red Devils who go into the game as the speed setters.
A run of 29 focuses from the keep going 33 on offer has seen Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side get over a moderate beginning to the mission and take off to the highest point of the Premier League table, with Tuesday’s 1-0 triumph over Burnley lifting them three focuses over the victors and Sunday’s hosts.
It is the first run through Man United have been top after upwards of 17 rounds of a season since Sir Alex Ferguson led them to their twentieth title in 2012-13, a count Liverpool moved back to inside one of with their victory last season.
© Reuters
For the entirety of the prevailing time frames these two clubs have delighted in consistently, they have just completed as the best two on five past events, and only once in the Premier League time, 12 years back.
With just four focuses isolating first from fifth it is too soon to recommend that that could be the case again this season, yet in the event that the two sides can keep up their title charges, at that point the converse of this apparatus toward the beginning of May is probably going to be one of the greatest Liverpool versus Manchester United standoffs at this point.
For Man United to try and be in that discussion this season is something of an amazement, and Solskjaer has demanded that triumph for his side at Anfield would even now comprise an “upset” and a “stun”, paying little heed to what the group table says.
The guests will without a doubt venture out to Merseyside loaded with conviction that they can leave away with an assertion making win, however, having won nine and lost none of their last 11 first class trips extending back to November 1.
Away from home Man United have not lost in the group since that last excursion to Anfield precisely a year prior – a run of 15 games which incorporates 12 triumphs, 11 of which have come in their last 12 such matches.
One more win at Anfield would effectively approach last season’s count of eight away alliance wins and would likewise be only the second time in United’s renowned history that they have figured out how to win at least eight of their initial nine away association rounds of a mission.
More idealism will be acquired by the way that, similarly as Man United have hit excellent condition, Liverpool have endured one of their most noticeably awful blips lately.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have gotten two focuses from their last three games and could go four without a triumph unexpectedly since February 2017, having been held by West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United before losing at Southampton last break.
Surprisingly, Liverpool have never lost consecutive class games under Klopp, last doing as such in September 2015 under Brendan Rodgers when the second match in that run was a 3-1 thrashing on account of Man United. Klopp himself has not directed progressive alliance massacres since April 2015, during his time accountable for Borussia Dortmund.
The victors have since skiped back with a 4-1 FA Cup triumph against Aston Villa’s adolescents to re-visitation of winning ways, yet worryingly in the Premier League even their objectives have apparently evaporated recently.
Since scoring seven objectives from eight shots on track in their demolition of Crystal Palace on December 19, Liverpool have since just overseen seven shots on track joined from their next three games, scoring only once simultaneously.
The Reds had scored in each group game this season preceding their consecutive spaces against Newcastle and Southampton individually, and they could now go three first class games without an objective unexpectedly since March 2005.
The annihilation to Southampton in their last class trip likewise implies that they have now dropped 18 focuses this season, which is more than across the entire of every one of their past two missions, and another misfortune on Sunday would see them start a schedule year with sequential alliance crushes unexpectedly since 1993.
Nonetheless, it is a long way from all despondency for the heroes; their new assaulting bluntless should be offset with the way that they are as yet the main scorers in the association, while at the opposite end they brag the second-best protection in the best five in spite of playing the majority of the period without their two fundamental community backs.
There is likewise the Anfield factor to consider for this game, with Liverpool now 67 home games unbeaten in the Premier League, winning 55 of those – and 32 of their last 34 – in a run which stretches back to April 2017.
West Bromwich Albion’s crush and-get attract Liverpool’s last home round of 2020 was just the second time they have dropped class focuses at Anfield in very nearly two years, and they have scored in every one of their last 42 first class trips on home turf, extending back to a goalless draw with Manchester City in October 2018.
That Man City impasse was by chance the last time they neglected to dominate a home match against one more of the conventional ‘huge six’ as well, taking greatest focuses from their 11 such matches since.
Man United, paradoxically, have not won any of their four gatherings with the ‘huge six’ this prepare and have neglected to try and score from open play in those games, their lone objective coming from a Bruno Fernandes penalty.
Notwithstanding being a huge day in the title race and for fanatics of the two clubs, it could likewise end up being a milestone event for the two chiefs, with Solskjaer hoping to try not to turn out to be just the third Manchester United director in history to neglect to win any of their initial four association gatherings with Liverpool.
Klopp, in the interim, will would like to praise his 200th Premier League game as Liverpool manager in style; his count of 127 successes in his initial 199 games is bettered just by Jose Mourinho in Premier League history, while he as of now has a preferred success proportion over some other Liverpool supervisor to have arrived at the twofold century in the first class.
Liverpool Premier League form: DWWDDL
Liverpool form (all competitions): WWDDLW
Manchester United Premier League form: WWDWWW
Manchester United form (all competitions): DWWLWW
Team News
Klopp has wouldn’t preclude the possibility of Joel Matip returning as expected for this match, with the middle back set to re-visitation of preparing in front of the challenge.
The German’s pre-coordinate public interview seemed to propose a hesitance to toss Matip straight back into the crease thus, regardless of Liverpool’s deficiency at focus back, he may just be fit enough for a spot on the seat from the beginning.
Klopp likewise talked up the significance of having Jordan Henderson in midfield thus all things considered, either Nat Phillips or Rhys Williams will fill in alongside Fabinho at focus back instead of the captain being called upon as a crisis choice once more.
The speed in Manchester United’s assault implies that either choice could be abused, yet Phillips seems, by all accounts, to be only in front of Williams in the running should one of them be required.
Naby Keita has been precluded as Klopp practices alert over the midfielder’s return, while Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Diogo Jota and Kostas Tsimikas also remain sidelined.
Four months after joining, Thiago Alcantara is in line to at long last make his Anfield debut for Liverpool.
Manchester United additionally have protective injury concerns, with Brandon Williams and Phil Jones having been precluded and Victor Lindelof still far fetched with a back issue which has seen him miss the last three matches.
The Swede could be back in conflict for this one, however even so Solskjaer could decide to stay with the Harry Maguire-Eric Bailly partnership which has filled in ongoing excursions.
Anthony Martial will go through a late wellness test in the wake of limping off against Burnley with a hamstring injury, while Nemanja Matic must likewise demonstrate his wellness because of a slight crotch issue.
Whenever fit, Martial could replace Edinson Cavani through the center, which could thus open the entryway for a rejuvenated Paul Pogba to move further upfield or Mason Greenwood to come into the beginning XI.
Fernandes is an ensured starter, new off turning into the main part in the English first class to be named Player of the Month multiple times in a solitary schedule year.
Marcus Rashford will additionally be wanting to broaden a decent late record against Liverpool, having scored three objectives in his last four class games against the Reds and acquiring his side four focuses simultaneously.
Amad Diallo provides another choice for the guests as well, with Solskjaer declining to preclude the possibility of the January appearance being included on Sunday.
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Phillips, Fabinho, Robertson; Henderson, Thiago, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Manchester United possible starting lineup:
De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Fred; Rashford, Fernandes, Pogba; Martial
Liverpool vs Manchester Utd
Home to score
Over 2.5 Goals
Away Over 7.5 Free Kick