It is a big week as the two biggest rivals of English football face each other. Manchester United travels to Anfield to face Liverpool in this game week of Premier League. But a lot has changed in recent years between these two old rivals. United is no more dominating the league while Liverpool is in very hot form and is the prime contender to win the League for this season.
Both United and Liverpool played in their respective Champions League fixtures but United had a comfortable outing. Having already qualified to next round, United rested their main players against Valencia. But for Liverpool, they started the full team and managed to defeat Napoli to qualify for next round. It will keep United somehow in the better position in Sunday fixture, Liverpool has too much of quality at the back and up-fornt for United to deal with.
For United, David de Gea should start in the goal after being rested against Valencia. At the back, Smalling, Lindelof, and Darmian are out injured which means Phil Jones and Bailey are likely to start at the back. Valencia might get a chance at the fullback after coming back after long injury. Matic got rested after a long season and would return to face Liverpool. About Paul Pogba, he started against Valencia but continued his poor form which means he may not start against Liverpool. He missed one best opportunity to bring United in level. He missed previous 2 matches in PL, and without him, United defeated Fulham by 4-1. Also, Rashford, Mata, Lingard, and Lukaku should start up front for United.
For Liverpool, they are coming stronger every season but always falling short of the title. They haven't won the league since 1990. For this season, Liverpool is an only undefeated team. Liverpool was at the top before coming to this week but after City won against Everton, pushing Liverpool back to second. Liverpool will look to win this one and move to the top again.
Liverpool has some injury concerns at the back. Arnold, Matip, and Gomez are out injured and aren't likely to start against United. But the more worry for United would be the terrifying Liverpool's attack. Liverpool has the strongest front line but they struggled recently. Coming to this match, Salah is back in form. He banged a hattrick against Bournemouth and scored against Napoli. It is going to be a double headache for Mourinho, first to stop the Salah and company and to break the Liverpool defense, the strongest in the league this season. Liverpool only conceded 6 goals this season, 4 less than the second best defense of Manchester City. And not to forget, the headache for Mourinho is their own defense. United has conceded 26 goals, the most among the teams in the top half.
But Mourinho always comes up with a masterpiece against the big teams, and we shouldn't write off United. Mourinho never lost to Klopp's Liverpool and would want to continue it. He must find a way to nullify Liverpool's attack to get something from Anfield against all odds. For me and for most of us, Liverpool is the clear winner but I am hopeful Mourinho will outclass Klopp again and United will return with something from Anfield.
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