Christmas may be over, but football fans are about to ring in the New Year when Liverpool host Manchester United in the Northwest Derby this weekend. England’s two famous reds could not be in the best form at the moment, with Arne Slot leading Liverpool on the charge while Ruben Amorim is unlikely to feature in the struggling Reds demons.
On paper, everything points not only to Liverpool’s success, but a shame at that – but football games are not played on paper. As we’ve seen many times over the years, form often goes out the window when two rivals come to town. But what makes the match between Liverpool and Manchester United so special? Let’s dive into the history, as well as some team news and predictions for the big day!
Liverpool vs Manchester United
The Northwest Derby is by no means a title race this year – let’s be honest. Liverpool have given up a six-point gap in the league table with no one worthy in sight (for now), while Man Utd are 14 below.th and seeking more likely reductions than title charges. Arne Slot has won 14 times in his first 18 games as Liverpool manager, giving them 45 points. The Red Devils, on the other hand, have won just six of their 18 games this season. , where she had 22 points and five rebounds. While players such as Mo Salah and Luis Diaz continue to attack on Merseyside, the likes of Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho have thrown Amorim away in Manchester.
History of Liverpool vs Man United – Derby Northwest
Some rivalries are born out of regional proximity while others emerge from proximity in the league table – the Northwest Derby is actually a bit of both. Manchester United and Liverpool are the two most successful clubs in England and have been at the top of the game for the past 100 years. This spirit of competition and rivalry has been passed down from generation to generation, and is still present today despite the differences between the two teams on the field.
In the history of the English football league, only two teams can improve Arsenal’s record of 13 trophies – Man United and Liverpool. Red Devils celebrated their 20th anniversaryth won back in 2013 but have drifted into ‘sleeping giant’ status since. Liverpool, meanwhile, are just one behind their rivals on 19 and look set to draw the final stage of the 2024/25 campaign. The script is slightly reversed if you look at the history of the PL, which started in 1992. Since then, Man United have won 13 trophies to Liverpool alone. The two teams are equal in terms of trophies overall, once you take into account the domestic trophies and silverware. This time, Liverpool is ahead of the game with 69 trophies, compared to Manchester United who got 68. This means that Arne Slot can reach his club number 70 in the next six months.
But when did the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United begin? To answer this, we have to go all the way back to 18th century. There’s a reason why the Northwest Derby is held in higher regard than the Merseyside and Manchester Derby, after all.
Although Liverpool and Manchester United are not in the same city, they are great rivals between cities, within 35 miles of each other. Before the competition between the two teams on the field, there is always a fight between the cities of the North West. This stems from the beginnings of economics and industry. In 18th century, Manchester is seen as the center of Northern England, being the most populous city in this part of the country. However, in the 1700s, Liverpool grew as a major port and eventually eclipsed Manchester in the 19th century.th and the beginning of the 20th century. While Manchester was the main representative of the North, Liverpool is now suddenly seen as the ‘second city’ of the British Empire after London. Over the next 100 years, the decline of industrial England saw both Manchester and Liverpool experience economic instability, all amid the changing politics of England. In the 1900s, this rivalry spilled over into the football field.
Manchester United (formerly Newton Heath) was founded in 1878, just 14 years before Liverpool. The teams first met in the competition in 1894 when Liverpool won 2-0, but the teams have met 215 times since then. Since that time, the two giants of the northwest of the country have been trading punches, face to face and looking for silverware. In the 1963/64 season, Liverpool won the English League Cup for the sixth time, then Man United won the sixth league in 1965, then Liverpool won the seventh in 1966, and Man United came back in 1967. Liverpool is the the leader in the field of English football. in the 1970s and 80s, he won 11 trophies in 20 seasons. However, he came in a decade, Man United went to a new generation with more goals. The arrival of Sir Alex Ferguson made the Red Devils win 13 league titles between 1992 and 2013.
Since Man United’s previous success, only one PL trophy has reached either side of the Northwest Derby – Liverpool in 2020. Manchester City’s loss, Chelsea’s two wins, and Leicester City’s exit have left Man Utd – Liverpool are competing. bay for the better part of a decade. However, Arne Slot seems to be leading his side to the front of the argument.
Place
Anfield – Sunday 5th January. Start: 16:30 local time.
The Anfield stadium was built in 1884 and has been renovated 13 times since then to keep up with the demands of modern football. Liverpool have been the main tenants at Anfield since 1892, making the 61,276-seat stadium one of the oldest in England. Anfield has not been a happy hunting ground for Man Utd in recent days. In fact, the Red Devils have not won there since their 1-0 win in the 2015/16 season. The five league matches at Anfield ended after Liverpool won three and drew two. Man Utd failed to score in all five matches, even losing 7-0 and 4-0.
Team News and Injury News
Let’s take a look at some of the players and injury stories for our upcoming matches against Liverpool and Manchester United on Sunday:
Liverpool: Liverpool have been very lucky with injuries in the last few months, but now they are presented with a problem at the back by entering the Northwest Derby. Ibrahima Konate has been nursing a knee injury since December and is struggling to return in time for the game. Joe Gomez had to pull out of the match against West Ham due to a thigh injury, which meant Jarell Quansah had to fill in for Virgil Van Dijk. Arne Slot’s only other injury came at right back, along with Conor Bradley – but even then he is close to returning. In the middle, Dominik Szoboszlai is back from suspension.
Man Utd: Manchester United have Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte back from their suspensions against Liverpool. However, Mason Mount, Victor Lindelof, and Luke Shaw are all out injured and their return date is unknown.
Players to Watch
We can answer this question with a simple word – Salah. The Liverpool winger is in the form of his life at the moment, scoring 17 goals and providing 13 assists so far this season. To put this into perspective, he currently leads the table for both goals scored and assists. To put that into perspective, you could take Man Utd’s top five PL goalscorers this season and still not match Salah’s tally. In this sense, two players to watch in this game should be Diogo Dalot and Lisandro Martinez, both of them will combine to cover Salah for the evening – easier said than done. In attack, Bruno Fernandes is always one to keep an eye on the Red Devils. The unfortunate reality for Ruben Amorim is that each of Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo, Trent Alexander-Arnold and co. and can be spectators.
Self-recording
There have been 215 matches between Manchester United and Liverpool since 1894. Man Utd won 83 goals while Liverpool won 72, while the remaining 60 were drawn. This time, the Red Devils scored 289 goals, with Liverpool scoring the same number of goals. The player who scored the most goals in the Northwest Derby is no surprise Mo Salah with 15 goals, followed by Steven Gerrard who scored nine, Stan Pearson scored eight. In the last ten PL matches between Liverpool and Man Utd, the Red Devils have won only once. Liverpool has scored six goals, scoring 28 goals. This is actually a high-scoring game in recent times (more thanks to Liverpool than United), with 34 goals in the last ten games. That puts 3.4 goals per game on average!
Form Guide
The lead was not particularly good for Man Utd going into this one. The Red Devils have won just six of their 18 games this season, compared to Liverpool’s 14. This leaves United 23 points clear of their rivals after 18 games. Now we haven’t seen any violence under Ruben Amorim in Manchester, with the new coach winning just two games in the first seven PL games. With Man United’s last win at Anfield since the 2015/16 season, the league table certainly points to Liverpool’s victory.
Potential issues
For Liverpool things are simple – a win is another three points closer to the league title. For Man Utd, it was too little. The win over their rivals could start a good run under Amorim, while also pointing to Liverpool’s title. There is also the great shame of being stuck in the bottom half of the table. Either way, it’s safe to say that Liverpool and Man United are struggling differently this season.
Line of Speculation
Let’s take a look at how we expect Arne Slot and Ruben Amorim to line up in Sunday’s Northwest Derby.
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones; Wrong, Jota, Gakpo.
Man United: Onana; Mazraoui, Yoro, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot; Mainoo, Ugarte; Fernandes, Diallo; Hoijlund.
Liverpool vs Manchester United
Betsson are currently offering a range of odds on Liverpool and Man United ahead of this weekend’s North West clash!
Liverpool won: 1.30
Draw: 6.20
Man United won: 10.00
Last season, this match ended 0-0 and you can get odds of 27.00 for it to happen again. Liverpool’s 1-0 win comes with odds of 9.80, 2-0 is 7.40, 2-1 is 8.20 and 3-0 is 8.40. On the other hand, if you are interested in Man United to cause an upset, winning 1-0 for the Red Devils comes with odds of 31.00 or 2-1 will get 27.00.
You can check Betsson’s full betting selection for Liverpool vs Man United HERE.
Score Prediction
We can’t see anything but a Liverpool win here – and an embarrassing one at that. Arne Slot’s men are strong enough to fight, the new style Man United under Ruben Amorim, apart from the fact that Mo Salah looks unstoppable at the moment.
Score prediction: Liverpool 4-0 Man United
PS: Odds may have changed since this article was written and published.
Last updated: 03.01.2025
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