Premier League’s fiercest rivalry – Manchester United vs Liverpool
Today the fiercest rivalry in English Premier League football reignites as Liverpool travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday afternoon. With just 32 miles separating these football giants, Liverpool has recently had the upper hand on their oldest foes.
Over the last ten meetings, the aggregate score between the two sides is an outrageous 26-7, heavily in favour of the Merseyside outfit, most notably a 7-0 thrashing in March 2023. However, in the meetings since, the outcomes have been more even, with two draws in the Premier League last term.
After suffering a last-minute 2-1 defeat against Brighton, with goals from United old boy Danny Welbeck and the exciting Brazilian João Pedro, Manchester United will be looking to make amends and get back to winning ways to avoid falling too far behind at this early stage of the season.
This will be new Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s first taste of the famous Old Trafford atmosphere, leading his team out in front of 74,000 fans. He’ll be hoping to continue his winning start to life on Merseyside, having secured 2-0 victories in each of his first two Premier League matches against Ipswich Town and Brentford.
After bringing in big summer signings Leny Yoro and Mathijs de Ligt, Erik ten Hag hopes to shore up his side’s leaky defence. However, the question remains whether the addition of fellow Dutchman Joshua Zirkzee will be enough to bolster United’s goal-shy forward line, which includes Marcus Rashford and co.
The Manchester United manager must decide whether to continue with his recent experiment of using his captain, Bruno Fernandes, as a false-9, or to start Joshua Zirkzee in the continued absence of the Dane, Rasmus Højlund.
In Liverpool’s case, they’ve been relatively quiet in the transfer market, with more outgoings than incomings. Their only addition was Federico Chiesa from Juventus on Thursday in a £10m deal.
Mohamed Salah has started the season in great form, with two goals in his opening two games and a Man of the Match performance last time out. Luis Diaz has also begun the season in red-hot form, with a goal and an assist in the game against Brentford, marking his milestone 100th outing for the Reds.
The managers of the two sides have history as well, both being Dutch compatriots—ten Hag previously at the helm of Ajax, and Slot in charge at Eredivisie rivals Feyenoord. The last time they went head-to-head, ten Hag’s Ajax beat Feyenoord 3-2, securing the double over Slot’s side after the previous meeting ended 2-0 in Ajax’s favour.
The Manchester United manager would welcome a repeat of those outcomes. However, given the start Slot’s new side has had, a result in the Merseysiders’ favour looks more likely.
