Liverpool vs Man Utd preview; home and team news, how to follow, stream | Football news
WHO: Liverpool vs Manchester United
What: English Premier League
Where: Anfield, Liverpool, Great Britain
When: 16:30 (16:30 GMT) on Sunday
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Liverpool manager Arne Slott believes struggling Manchester United are better than their place in the Premier League table suggests and says he has no plans to rest any players when the two sides clash at Anfield.
Liverpool are at the top of the table with 45 points and a game in hand over the other title contenders. They have six points more than second-placed Arsenal, while United, with five defeats in their last six league games, are in 14th place with 22 points.
Although United are no longer the force they were in the Alex Ferguson era, Slott was taken aback when asked if he planned to rest any of his key players for Sunday’s game.
“No. Of course not,” Slott said. “To me, they’ve got a lot better players than the league table shows right now. It might take a while for (manager) Ruben Amorim to get that out of the players, but they’re a lot better than the league table shows.”
Liverpool are still sweating over the futures of Alexander-Arnold, Salah and van Dijk
As for his own players, Slot insisted on defender Trent Alexander-Arnold he is focused on his work despite speculation linking the defender, whose contract expires in the summer, with a move to Real Madrid.
Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah is also out of contract, along with club captain Virgil van Dijk, and said the new agreement is “far away”. The Egyptian leads the league with 17 goals, and combined with his 13 assists, his contribution is one goal every 53 minutes.
When asked if Salah is currently the best in the world, Slott said it is difficult to compare players.
“If I just look at my team, Virgil (van Dijk) is also having an outstanding season, but he doesn’t have the numbers because he is a defender,” the manager said. “Mo’s numbers speak for themselves. If you just look at the numbers and the way he plays, he’s definitely a great, great player.”
slots people, who have lost just one game this season, beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford in September and United have just one win over their rivals in their last 13 league meetings.
Slot had nice words for the Amors, who confessed after theirs 2-0 loss to Newcastle United on Monday that his team could face potential relegation.
“Every manager empathizes with every other manager,” Slott said. “We all know how much pressure this job carries. It’s something we love. He was so good at Sporting and I think he has a good squad of players so he will get the best out of them in the end.”
Manchester United need “leaders” on the pitch to reverse their recent run
Amorim, meanwhile, says Manchester United are “starving for leaders” during a turbulent period.
United will be able to welcome back captain Bruno Fernandes to Anfield after he was suspended for Monday’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at Newcastle, while the club have triggered the option to extend former captain Harry Maguire’s contract by a year until 2026.
Defender Maguire (31) joined the club from Leicester in 2019, and his contract was due to expire at the end of the season.
“I spoke to him (Maguire) this morning and I told him he has to improve on the pitch, we really need him,” Amorim said on Friday.
“Also, he has to improve as a leader. We all know the situation he had here (losing the captaincy and falling down the list), but we need him very much at the moment, so we will open, fortunately, an option for him.”
Amorim added: “When you look at our squad, we are starving for leaders on the pitch. He is a leader.”
Arsenal’s win over Brentford cuts the gap to Liverpool to six points 🫴#FestiveFixtures pic.twitter.com/JAIzpRDlkG
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 1, 2025
United have lost four games in a row and are also out of the League Cup in their recent miserable run.
The two most successful clubs in English football history could not have started Sunday’s match in more contrasting fashion with Liverpool closing in on United’s record 20 Premier League titles, despite Arsenal close the gap to six points after the win at Brentford on Wednesday.
United last won at Anfield nine years ago and have suffered 4-0 and 7-0 defeats in two of their last three away games.
Amorim, however, is hoping that a few rare moments on the training pitch this week will help his team.
“In football, anything can happen in one game,” he said. “If we talk about the season, then almost every time the best team wins.
“They are better than us at the moment, but we can win any game. We need to focus not on the context but on the performance. We need to improve the simple things.
“Of course this is a difficult moment because we are losing too many games and we will face the best team this year, but, as I said, with training we are preparing the team more and we want to improve the performance compared to the last game.”
Amad Diallo was United’s only source of optimism during the difficult first two months of Amorim’s reign.
The Ivorian is close to agreeing a new long-term contract at Old Trafford according to the Portuguese coach.
Liverpool team news
Joe Gomez faces a layoff after being sidelined for at least two weeks with a hamstring injury which forced him out of the squad in the win against West Ham.
Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate however continued to train as part of the first team squad to strengthen the defence. Dominik Szoboszlai, meanwhile, returns after a one-game ban.
Expected lineup:
Alisson Becker; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson; Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis McAllister, Mohamed Salah, Curtis Jones, Cody Gakpo; Luis Díaz.
Manchester United team news
Marcus Rashford, who was largely associated with leaving the clubwill be absent due to illness.
United welcome the return of Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte from suspension. Victor Lindelof, Mason Mount and Luke Shaw are out with injuries.
Expected lineup:
Andre Onana; Lisandro Martinez, Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire; Diogo Dalot, Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo, Noussair Mazraoui; Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo; Rasmus Hojlund.
Head to head
This is the 216th meeting between the biggest rivals of English football, Manchester United won 83 times, while Liverpool won 73 times.
United’s only win in their last five meetings came in the FA Cup last season in a dramatic 4-3 victory at Old Trafford.
Their last league win was a 2-1 home win in August 2022 – their only top-flight success against the Reds in 13 games. United’s last win at Anfield was in March 2015, when Juan Mata scored before Daniel Sturridge pulled one back for the home side.
Next stop: Match week 20 🚂 pic.twitter.com/bhpb6jbKzT
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 2, 2025
