Liverpool vs. Manchester United | Premiership match preview

The biggest rivalry in English football – between the teams of Liverpool and Manchester United, will again take place in the 8th round of The Premier League. The two consecutive matches without a victory for Manchester City could be beneficial for one of these two teams, which can melt the distance to the first place in the standings. Liverpool have collected 16 points and if they win the game, they can reach The Citizens in the top of the table, while The Red Devils have recorded 13 points in their first 7 league matches of the season.

Tonight’s match will be even more interesting because of the competition between the two managers – Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp. They have completely different philosophies for football and will be really interesting who will win the battle. As you know, Liverpool are playing fast and creative football in attack, while the Portuguese manager relies on his team’s good performance in defence.

These two managers have met on 5 occasions. Klopp has an advantage against his opponent. The German manager has won 3 matches against Mourinho, there have also been 1 draw and 1 victory for the Portuguese. The only victory for Jose Mourinho was in 2013, when Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at home, but the result wasn’t enough for Los Blancos to get through to the next round in The Champions League.

However, Jose Mourinho can be happy with his teams’ stats against Liverpool – 8 victories in 12 matches. The biggest win for the ‘Special one’ against The Reds was in 2014, which decided the title in The Premier League.

Manchester United have recorded 4 consecutive league victories against Liverpool. The Reds have lost 27 matches to Manchester United in The Premier League (more defeats than from every other team in the division).

On the other hand, the last two matches between these two teams were in the Europa League in March 2016, when Liverpool won the match at Anfield 2-0 and recorded a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford to proceed to the next round of the competition.

To continue with, the balance in the all matches between these two teams is in Manchester United favour: 196 games – 65 wins for Liverpool, 52 draws and 79 victories for The Red Devils (250:271 goal difference). The stats in The Premier League are quite proportional: (13 wins for The Reds, 8 draws and 27 wins for United. The goal difference is 55:72). But Liverpool have an advantage when they play at home against Manchester United – 44 W, 20 D, 26 L (149:100).

It will be a really interesting battle on the pitch. The pressure is on for both teams. Manchester United haven’t lost a game since a month, while Liverpool’s last defeat was two months ago. So, we should expect a strong performance from both clubs. Who will take the three points?

Possible starting XI:

• Liverpool (4-3-3): Loris Karius; Nathaniel Clyne, Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren, James Milner; Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum; Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino. Manager: Jurgen Klopp

• Manchester United (4-2-3-1): David De Gea; Antonio Valencia; Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind; Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba; Marcus Rashford, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard; Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Manager: Jose Mourinho

Referee: Anthony Taylor; Venue: Anfield; Kick-off: 20:00