Paul Merson has looked ahead to Sunday’s huge Premier League clash between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield and has explained how Jurgen Klopp’s side ‘could play right into United’s hands’.
Erik Ten Hag’s side make the short trip to Merseyside fresh off the back of being crowned League Cup champions last weekend and also a 3-1 FA Cup defeat of West Ham last night.
This weekend’s game is a huge one for both sides but for very different reasons with Liverpool looking to reduce the gap between themselves and the top four while the Red Devils still have an outside chance of mounting a title charge.
“This is how quickly football changes. You’d be surprised if Manchester United got beaten here,” Merson told Sportskeeda (as quoted by Metro).
“How many times have we been able to say that about this game in the last few years? The way Manchester United are playing, they will take the game to Liverpool.
“They are excellent on the counter and their players seem to make the right decisions whenever they break.
“United will want Liverpool to have a go at them so that they can hit them on the counter. Klopp’s side could play right into United’s hands on Sunday.
“Marcus Rashford will be looking to put Trent Alexander-Arnold under pressure much 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 keep themselves in the title race for now.
“A win would be massive for Liverpool as they will get closer to the top four with that. A couple of successive wins could be huge for them.
READ MORE: Liverpool ‘confident’ of completing deal for versatile Chelsea star this summer – report
“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 just needs a good manager to maximize their potential.
“As for Liverpool, Mohamed Salah hasn’t been good this season after signing a new contract. Both the Golden Boot winners from last season have been poor this term.
“Teams are always looking to silence Salah and that puts him at a disadvantage. Having said that, I wouldn’t sell him at the end of the season though because unless Liverpool are sure they can get an upgrade, there is no point to it.
“But I do believe that there are plenty of players in Liverpool’s midfield who need to go. All their Premier League rivals will strengthen in the summer and Liverpool will need to keep up.
“They’ll need to rejig their setup because the current one is not working like it used to. I think they’ll lose here, 2-1.”
Our 2-0 defeat of Wolves last night will do the squad’s confidence the world of good and the fact that we have kept four consecutive Premier League clean sheets is also a huge positive.
United will travel to L4 full of confidence too, however, with them still competing on all four fronts and playing attractive football this season under their Dutch boss.
It’s crazy to think how much we’ve dropped off since last season when it was us that came within two games of completing a glorious quadruple but Sunday provides a perfect opportunity for us to get back to our best and to prove that we belong in the top four.
We’re currently six points behind fourth placed Spurs with a game in hand and will need to be at our best to earn all three points against our bitter rivals.