The biggest rivalry in the Premier League returns this weekend with the form of the teams completely flipped from this fixture last season, where it was United who was battling to find themselves in a Champions League position and Liverpool competing for a title, but in just under a year, the roles have completely reversed with Liverpool entering this fixture 10 points behind their rivals.
Despite a 5-2 loss to Real Madrid in the middle, Liverpool’s league form has picked up as of late four consecutive clean sheets leading to three wins and a draw which comes off the back of 4 league games without a win and just one clean sheet in ten games.
Liverpool’s upturn in form in the league has coincided with the return of Virgil Van Dijk into central defence, keeping clean sheets against Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Wolves, which is a massive improvement of the 6 goals conceded in the four games in which he was absent.
Since their return from the World Cup, Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United have been the most in-form team in the country, playing 20 games, winning 16, drawing 3 and only losing once to top-of-the-league Arsenal and will be brimming with confidence coming into this massive game not just because of this run, but also winning the Carabao Cup, their first trophy in almost 6 years.
United have many players in great form, but the player that glues the team together is Casemiro, with United undefeated in 18 games in which Casemiro has played in, conceding only nine goals in those games, with him also contributing four goals and four assists from defensive midfield in those games.
Casemiro will also be happy to be playing Liverpool again, with him winning 3 and drawing once against the Merseyside team, including two games in Champions League finals.
Their fixture earlier this season at Old Trafford was a massive battle, and a massively important game with both sides failing to win their two opening games, but it was Ten Hag’s side who got the better of the sides, with goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford giving their boss their first win as United manager.
The win earlier this season for United, came off the back of three straight losses to their rivals, conceding 13 goals in the process, and ten Hag will have to break another streak to win this game, with United failing to win in their last seven appearances to Anfield, with Jurgen Klopp not suffering a loss to United at Anfield since the 2015/16 season and conceding only just once to United from the 2016/17 season onwards.