Paul Merson previewed Sunday’s big Premier League clash between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield and explained how Jurgen Klopp’s side “could play right into United’s hands.”
Erik Ten Hag’s side make the short trip to Merseyside after being crowned League Cup winners last weekend and also a 3-1 FA Cup win against West Ham last night.
This weekend’s game is huge for both sides, but for very different reasons, as Liverpool look to narrow the gap between themselves and the top four, while the Red Devils still have a long shot of mounting a charge for the qualification.
“That’s how fast football changes. You’d be surprised if Manchester United were beaten here,” Merson told Sportskeeda (quoted by Metro).
“How many times have we been able to say that about this game in recent years? The way Manchester United play, they will take the game to Liverpool.
“They are excellent on the counterattack and their players seem to make the right decisions every time they miss.
“United will want Liverpool to test them so they can hit them on the counter-attack. Klopp’s team could play directly into the hands of United on Sunday.
“Marcus Rashford will look to put pressure on Trent Alexander-Arnold like Vinicius Junior did in the Champions League a couple of weeks ago.
“If Manchester United beat Liverpool their confidence will be high and they will stay in the title race for now.
“A win would be huge for Liverpool as it brings them closer to the top four. A couple of wins in a row could be huge for them.
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“Erik ten Hag seems to know exactly how to handle his players. Tactically he is very good. In the Carabao Cup final, his substitutions were spot on and he made the right decisions.
“He killed the game at the right time by making some really good defensive substitutions. It just shows you that a club only needs a good manager to maximize its potential.
“As for Liverpool, Mohamed Salah has not been well this season after signing a new contract. The two Golden Boot winners from last season have been in bad shape this season.
“Teams are always looking to silence Salah and that puts him at a disadvantage. Having said that, he wouldn’t sell him at the end of the season because unless Liverpool are sure he can get an upgrade, there’s no point.
“But I do think there are a lot of players in the Liverpool midfield who need to go. All their Premier League rivals will get stronger in the summer and Liverpool will need to keep up.
“They will have to rearrange their setup because the current one doesn’t work like it used to. I think they will lose here, 2-1”.
Our 2-0 loss to Wolves last night will do our team confidence a lot of good and the fact that we have kept four consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League is also very positive.
However, United will also travel to L4 full of confidence as they will continue to compete on all four fronts and play attractive football this season under their Dutch boss.
It’s crazy to think how much we’ve lost since last season when we were the ones two games away from completing a glorious quadruple, but Sunday provides us with the perfect opportunity to get back to our best and show that we belong in the top four.
We are currently six points behind fourth-placed Spurs with one game to go and we will need to do our best to earn all three points against our bitter rivals.
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