Manchester United v Liverpool | Sunday 1 September | Old Trafford | 17:00
It will never be anything less than a monumental fixture – even if it is just the third week of the season! United welcome Liverpool to Old Trafford on Sunday evening in what is no doubt the feature fixture of the weekend!
Expect fireworks, with the usual touch of drama and intrigue – but we are here for it all! Let’s get into it…
To Win (90 mins)
Manchester United 11/4
Draw 26/10
Liverpool 17/20
Manchester United
I think one of the greatest ‘goes without sayings’ this year is the fact that Erik ten Hag is seemingly under immense pressure to see his United side perform. The Red Devils got off to a winning start against Fulham, but they were far off a dominating display or the potential heights their squad are capable of reaching.
They consolidated that performance with a somewhat lack luster display against Brighton – a side who have beaten United five times from their last six encounters. To be fair, I’m still not quite sure what to make of this Brighton side and so I would hazard against reading too much into these early fixtures.
Defensively United need to improve though – it’s as simple as that! Lisandro Martinez will likely play a massive role for them this season and so keeping him fit will have every person associated with the club keeping their fingers crossed. A lot continues to be made of Harry Maguire, but at the risk of sounding like a lunatic, I really believe he is amongst the most criticized players in the League’s history…
Expect United to be really narrow and compact here, they will look to hurt Liverpool on the counter and create their chances from there. It worked for them in the FA Cup last season, but I’m not sure whether they can get away with it again here.
Liverpool
I’ve been quite impressed with Liverpool so far under their new manager. They look like a side who just play seamless football and go through the phases with incredible ease. Against Ipswich they had to really overcome a gritty and inspired Ipswich side in that first half before taking the game out of reach – that would have done wonders for their confidence.
They then followed that up with an immense display of clinical football against Brentford. We know they have zippy clever players upfront, but the look of Mo Salah this year is just incredible. If you followed him throughout the summer break you would have noticed his animalistic approach to working out, he looks fitter than ever before, and I think it’s just a matter of time before we see him ripping up trees in the League again.
A lot has been made this week about Arne Slot and Trent Alexander-Arnold…the only thing I have to say about that is simply this: Slot has already showed he can be uncompromising (think Jarell Quansah), so I don’t think he is going to be intimidated by social media or the press…
Predicted Line-ups:
Manchester United: Onana, Dalot, Martinez, De Ligt, Mazraoui, Mainoo, Casemiro, Fernandes, Diallo, Garnacho, Mount.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Szoboszlai, Diaz, Jota
Prediction: Liverpool + Over 2.5 (14/10)
The reality here is that one of these two teams comes into the game with incredible confidence and the other comes into it with very little confidence. Liverpool will likely dominate possession of the football and as such I think their versatility going forward will come to the fore.
Back the Reds to claim a big win on enemy soil and throw in over 2.5 goals for good measure.
Written by Ryan Liberty