MY ACCOUNT
– Liverpool have led at half-time in four of their last seven home league games
– United start slow but have scored the most league goals in final 15 minutes
– Recommended bets: Liverpool to win first half & Liverpool/Man Utd in HT/FT
There will be much more than civic pride at stake when Liverpool host Manchester United in the 180th league meeting between the North West rivals at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
Jurgen Klopp’s side need to push up the table in pursuit of a top-four finish and establish some momentum ahead of a seemingly-impossible quest to overturn a three-goal deficit to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu Stadium later this month.
United can ill afford to lose any of their forward thrust as Erik ten Hag’s men chase silverware in four competitions, albeit a title challenge still looks a long way off at the moment.
The Red Devils can complete a rare Premier League double over their hosts if they win but Anfield has not been a happy hunting ground for them since the early days of Klopp’s reign.
Team news
Thiago Alcantara (hip), Luis Diaz (knee) and Calvin Ramsay (knee) remain sidelined, while the Reds will need to make a late call on Naby Keita after he sat out the midweek win over Wolves with a knock.
Diogo Jota impressed on Wednesday against his former club but it may be unrealistic to expect him to start a third game in a week after so long on the injury list.
Therefore, Cody Gakpo is expected to return to the starting XI alongside Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah up front, while Andrew Robertson and Jordan Henderson will probably be restored to the side in place of Kostas Tsimikas and Harvey Elliott.
For United, Christian Eriksen (ankle) and Donny van de Beek (knee) are still out, but Luke Shaw and Jadon Sancho are expected to return to contention after missing Wednesday’s win over West Ham.
Ten Hag revealed that Shaw sustained a minor injury at Wembley and Sancho had been suffering with a bout of illness.
The Dutchman named a second-string starting line-up against the Hammers, making six changes to Sunday’s Carabao Cup-winning team with the likes of Casemiro, Fred, Lisandro Martinez and Marcus Rashford beginning the tie on the bench.
That quartet, plus Raphael Varane and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, look likely to return to the team that walks out into the heat of battle at Anfield and there is a small chance Anthony Martial could be available off the bench following a hip injury.
The stats
Liverpool recorded their fourth Premier League clean sheet in a row on Wednesday against Wolves — the first time they have managed that this season.
Salah needs one more goal to equal Robbie Fowler’s club-record tally of 128 goals for the Reds.
The Egyptian is already Liverpool’s all-time highest goalscorer against United in all competitions with 10 goals.
Nine of those efforts have come in his past five appearances in the fixture.
Meanwhile, since the start of the 2017-18 season, no player has scored more goals against Liverpool than Rashford (six), although none of them were at Anfield.
United have now won 30 times in all competitions this season from 41 games. Only in the 2006-07 and 2012-13 seasons have the Old Trafford club achieved 30 wins in fewer games (40 both times).
But slow starts continue to be a problem for Ten Hag’s team as they have now fallen behind in four of their last seven games, including three of the last four at home.
Prediction
Liverpool restated their claim to finish in the top four with a solid showing at home to Wolves on Wednesday for their eighth home Premier League win of the season.
Klopp’s team look much more like their old selves on familiar turf and will command plenty of respect from a United side that have not been anywhere near as convincing on the road as they have been at Old Trafford.
Liverpool have been ahead at the break in four of their last seven home league games and should come flying out of the blocks again when faced by their bitter North West rivals.
It may be worthwhile taking the 25/1 on offer with LiveScore Bet for United to mount a stirring second-half comeback in the Half Time / Full Time market.
The Carabao Cup winners come on strong at the close and currently boast the Premier League’s best goal return in the final quarter-hour of games, while Liverpool’s most productive 15-minute spell is usually just before half-time.
Back the hosts to lead at the break at 19/10 with LiveScore Bet.
