Monday night will bring two expressive and brilliant managers face to face in Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho and this will be the first time Mourinho faces Klopp whilst being the United manager. Recent form favours the Red Devils who have won both their matches last season in the Premier League while Liverpool only have 4 victories across 18 matches in all competitions. But Jurgen Klopp has lost just one of his five meetings with Jose Mourinho (W3 D1), with that defeat coming in 2013 via a 2-0 home win for Real Madrid v Dortmund in the Champions League semi-final second leg.
While the previous two stats cancels each other out, we take a look at a combined line-up comprising of these two Premier League giants steeped in history.
T4O’S LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER UNITED COMBINED LINE-UP (4-2-3-1)
DEFENCE
David De Gea gets the automatic vote with the Spanish custodian considered amongst the Top 2 in the league and highly rated across the world. His unconventional technique might be met with ridicule once in a while but it is highly effective nonetheless. Nathaniel Clyne edges out Antonio Valencia with the English international being a regular right-back and an extremely good one at that. The quality of centre-backs in both the teams has been lacking in recent seasons but considering present form and Premier League experience we have opted for Matip and Smalling as our centre-halves. A fit Luke Shaw will be an obvious choice at left-back but the recent displays of Blind and Milner have put doubts in this position as well. We are going with Milner, which sounds preposterous but oddly feels right.
MIDFIELD
Jordan Henderson has been the stand-out midfielder this season and despite coming in for a fair share of flak, he has put his head down and kept slogging it out. He leads the table for passes completed and his energy and running is unquestionable. Alongside him, we have gone with Paul Pogba, well, because it is Pogba. In the No.10 slot, we are opting for the nimble footed Juan Mata. This is a controversial choice but his experience and his volley against Liverpool still feels fresh in the mind. He keeps out the likes of Firmino and Rooney!
ATTACK
Phillipe Coutinho might be inconsistent but he is an inconsistent magician, which is always better than the former. Martial’s form along with Rashford’s inability to perform at the same levels on the wing makes Coutinho an easy choice to pick. On the other flank, the pace and direct goal threat of Sadio Mane is a luxury most teams would want, luckily Liverpool have him. Up front, it will be the irrepressible Zlatan Ibrahimovic with his majestic presence and unerring ability to find the net.
MANAGER- JOSE MOURINHO
