As the Premier League action returns after the international break Manchester United travel to Anfield this weekend to take on Liverpool in what easily is one of the most famous derbies in the whole of Europe.
While Man Utd are in red-hot form at the moment, the same cannot be said about Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s men are under a tremendous amount of pressure as they keep falling behind in the title race. The Reds have drawn both of their previous games with a scoreline of 1-1 against Spartak Moscow and Newcastle United and they are currently seventh in the league table with 12 points.
And this is perhaps the worst time for Liverpool to face one of their arch rivals and more so when Jose Mourinho’s men look virtually unstoppable. While playing against an inform United side will not be easy but Jurgen Klopp will certainly hope that this high profile encounter can help boost up the confidence of his players.
We take a look at Liverpool’s predicted lineup during the Liverpool vs Man Utd encounter:
Goalkeeper:
Simon Mignolet will take up the goalkeeping duties against Manchester United.
Simon Mignolet
Defence:
Jurgen Klopp has a very thin defence line as he has very few players to choose from. This is one of the main reasons why Liverpool have been conceding goals in almost every game because Klopp simply does not have the luxury of rotating his defenders. In this weekend’s games too, the manager will have to pick a familiar central defensive pairing of Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip. Trent Alexander Arnold will be given the right-back duties and he will have to perform a dual task of preventing United’s wide players from getting past him as well as venture forward when the opportunity presents itself. The left-back role is a trickier position for Klopp as he is split between Moreno and Robertson. But we think that the German will choose Moreno simply because of his experience for playing in such crunch matches.
Moreno – Matip – Lovren – Arnold
Midfield:
Jurgen Klopp will have to reshuffle a bit in the midfield as summer signing Alex Oxlade Chamberlain might very well be left out of the side in order to accommodate Phillipe Coutinho in central midfield. Emre Can will take up his usual position in the defensive midfield area while Jordan Henderson will partner Coutinho in the centre. This reshuffle will primarily be done so that both Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino can play in the wide areas along with Daniel Sturridge in the striker’s position.
Can – Henderson – Coutinho
Attack:
The major miss of the match will most definitely be Sadio Mane will is currently sidelined for a good six weeks owing to an injury. This means that Klopp loses out on one half of his attacking threat and the Reds will have to be over-dependent on Egyptian Mohamed Salah in order to produce the goods. Salah will be partnered by Roberto Firmino in the wide areas as Daniel Sturridge will make up the final piece of the attacking puzzle.
Firmino- Sturridge – Salah
Liverpool vs Man Utd predicted lineup:
