Manchester United and Liverpool revive their age-old rivalry as the Reds come marching to the Old Trafford, 5 points ahead of Jose Mourinho and his boys.
Jurgen Klopp has seen his young side play a swashbuckling brand of football with the trio of Mane, Coutinho and Firmino wreaking havoc on teams. But ever since an injury to Coutinho, things haven’t been the same for them. They have won matches in the league but after the scratchy win against Manchester City, they drew against Sunderland. In the FA Cup fixture against Plymouth, they finished 0-0 which increases their fixture pile-up which was already a headache for them. And this was followed by a 0-1 loss against Southampton in the EFL Cup in which they were completely outplayed. Liverpool managed a draw against United in their home leg and everything points towards a difficult 90 minutes for the away team.
Manchester United are on a brilliant 9-match run and Jose Mourinho seems to have got his mojo back and so has his team. They will be heading into the fixture with confidence and Mourinho will probably go for a win with the possibility of going within 2 points of 2nd placed Liverpool.
Sadio Mane will be absent for Liverpool while Bailly will not feature for Manchester United. Both are on AFCON duty.
COMBINED MANCHESTER UNITED & LIVERPOOL XI (4-2-3-1)
DEFENCE
David De Gea is the obvious choice in goal with neither Karius nor Mignolet impressing for the Reds this season. Nathaniel Clyne gets the nod as he has been consistent and by the virtue that he is the conventional right-back. Antonio Valencia has been good but he hasn’t been the better of the two. Phil Jones has been consistent for the Red Devils lately and he makes our team with his regular partner Marcos Rojo lining up alongside him. James Milner is the undisputed choice at left-back.
MIDFIELD
Paul Pogba and Jordan Henderson can form the double pivot. While Henderson has been injured, he is likely to make a return against Manchester United. Pogba has found his rhythm in the last month or so and is an automatic choice in the centre of the park. Henrikh Mkhitaryan will be in the No.10 role and given his recent form, makes the team.
ATTACK
Coutinho is the obvious choice on the left flank while Adam Lallana takes up the opposite flank. The Englishman has been in brilliant form lately and will be more than a handful. Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be the lone striker up front with Liverpool not challenging in that category.
