Liverpool vs Manchester United – Match Preview
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Without question the biggest clash of this Premier League weekend takes us to Anfield as the ongoing battle for bragging rights in the North West sees Liverpool and Manchester United play out another chapter in what a very storied history between these two clubs.
For Liverpool they start the weekend at the top of the table, although with them playing 24 hours after Manchester City that is a situation that could very well change come the opening whistle on Sunday afternoon.
They reached the summit thanks to a combination factors, first there was there fantastic win over Bournemouth which saw Mohamed Salah take home the matchball after scoring a hat-trick in their 4-0 win at the Vitality Stadium.
While the second was the fact that Manchester City finally saw their unbeaten streak for this Premier League season come to and end at the hands of Chelsea. A turnaround which sees Liverpool lead Pep Guardiola’s men by a single point before Saturday’s action.
Not only that but it also means that Liverpool are now the only unbeaten team in the Premier League this season, a streak that Manchester United would love to be responsible for ending especially in front of the Kop.
And it could well be that they finally have their swagger back under Jose Mourinho, last Saturday saw the Red Devils make incredibly light work of Fulham as they eased to a win by four goals to one at Old Trafford.
However, that was a performance that was against the team with the leakiest defence in the division. Therefore, this Sunday’s trip to Merseyside will be a much more accurate test as to where United are right now.
They find themselves eight points behind both Chelsea and Arsenal as they are very much on the outside of any race for a Champions League place, a gap that they quite simply cannot afford to increase any further.
While it is still mathematically possible for them to finish in the top four you do have to wonder just if their lack of ability in terms of successive wins will be the thing that ultimately lets them down come the end of the season.
The only other option may be that they put all their eggs in a Champions League sized basket in a bid to win that competition, something that you would not necessarily put past Jose Mourinho achieving come next May.
If that is to be the case, then they may have to deal with Liverpool at some point who booked their place in the Round of 16 after a win over Napoli on Tuesday night. But now the focus shifts back to more domestic matters.
United under Mourinho usually have a habit of trying to draw the bigger games away from home, something that they cannot really afford to do when visiting Anfield on Sunday. If they go all out though then that will play into Liverpool’s hands.
This Liverpool team obviously haven’t been stopped and as much as their arch rivals would love to be the team that ends the run, all the signs point to Jurgen Klopp coming out on top in the battle of the managerial masterminds.
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