The State of Play
In 39 matches across all competitions so far this season, Manchester United have won, quite astonishingly, just six games by more than a solitary goal and the sixth of those wins came last weekend as they defeated Everton by two goals to nil at Old Trafford in the Premier League with penalties from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford. Pressure remains heavy on manager, Erik ten Hag.
Liverpool moved a step closer to a historic quadruple in midweek as they hammered Sparta Prague by six goals to one in the second-leg of their UEFA Europa League Round of 16 tie at Anfield in midweek after racing into a 4-0 lead after 12 minutes, eventually winning 11-2 on aggregate. The Reds have been magnificent throughout the last couple of months with all members of a deep squad contributing to their success.
Team News
Erik ten Hag and Manchester United will be without some key players for this weekend with the likes of Tyrell Malacia, Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez all unavailable but midfielder Mason Mount has returned to first-team training.
Liverpool have been injury ravaged in the last month or so but the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah have returned. The visitors remain without key men such as Alisson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Expected Line-ups
Manchester United: Onana; Dalot, Varane, Evans, Lindelof; Mainoo, Casemiro; Garnacho, McTominay, Fernandes; Hojlund
Liverpool: Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Endo, Elliott; Salah, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz
What they Said
Erik ten Hag was upbeat in the aftermath of United’s victory over Everton: “It was important. We had to put this right and keep the pressure on the teams above us. There are many games to play. Now we are back. We will keep pressure on them and see what happens.”
Liverpool defender Conor Bradley has reaffirmed the Liverpudlian intent to win everything this season. When discussing the departing Klopp, he said: “We just want to win every trophy we can for him and give him the best send off we can.”
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at Old Trafford at 15:30 on Sunday March 17th and will be shown live on ITV1 in the UK. It will also be able to be streamed live via the ITVX app.
Prediction
It is the penultimate time that these two old rivals will face each other in the Jurgen Klopp-era. Since Klopp arrived at Liverpool, the two teams have played each other 19 times across all competitions with Liverpool winning seven, Manchester United winning four and there being eight draws in that time. Recent clashes have been dominated by the Merseysiders, though, with four wins and a draw in their last six games. The aggregate score in those six matches is 21-3. United made life difficult for Liverpool at Anfield in December and will be set up to do so again this time around but the visitors remain firm favourites.
