Liverpool vs Manchester United Premier League Prediction 21/22

Liverpool had yet another successful week after overcoming their rivals Manchester City, 3-2, in this year's FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley Stadium. While Manchester United managed to overcome bottom of the league Norwich City in a five-goal thriller, thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick, which kept their hopes for the top 4 alive. 

In their previous Premier League game, Liverpool thrashed a poor Manchester United side 5-0 at Old Trafford with a similar type of game quite likely to occur as the team from Merseyside are in great form while Man Utd struggle with confidence. 

Liverpool vs Manchester United - Premier League Preview: 

(Image taken from the Mirror - link: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manutd-liverpool-preseason-friendly-thailand-26593862)

Liverpool comes into this game with good form after a brilliant showcase in their FA Cup semi-final tie against Premier League leaders Manchester City. They were 3-0 up at half-time and had completely restricted Manchester City in that first half. Although City possessed the quality, they managed to score twice in the second half with no reply, but this was not enough to overcome Liverpool.  

Their last premier league fixture was also Manchester City in what was labelled as the 'title decider.' The teams produced entertainment and drama and showcased why they are the two best English teams of the last 5-6 years. City took the lead twice in the game, but Liverpool's resilience and constant attacking threat helped them get back into the game twice. Although Manchester City created the better chances to win the match and gain a 4 point lead at the top. Looking at these two games it does show Liverpool does concede goals when there is attacking pressure from the opposition as they haven't kept a clean sheet in their last 4 matches.

On the other hand, Manchester United haven't kept a clean sheet since the end of February in their scoreless draw against 19th placed Watford. Over the last few years, it has been clear that Man Utd and Liverpool are on the opposite ends of the spectrum with success on the pitch as the team from Merseyside have won a Premier League, Carabao Cup and Champions League in the last 5 years while Manchester United are going to be trophyless for the 5th consecutive season.

In Manchester United's last match they played bottom-placed Norwich City in the Premier League in which they led 2-0 after 33 minutes. The game looked relatively comfortable. However, seen many times this season, Man Utd's defence seems to crumble in the slightest bit of pressure and on either side of the half Norwich scored to tie the game at 2-2. Although, individual brilliance saved Manchester United once again as a stunning free-kick from Ronaldo managed to win them the match. 

This match should provide entertainment and drama as both sides have a lot to play for as well as pride. Liverpool will want to keep the pressure on Manchester City who are currently 1 point ahead in the race for the Premier League title while Manchester United are only 3 points behind 4th placed Tottenham in the race for a Champions League spot for next season. 

Head 2 Head (h2h):

Predicted Lineups & Team News:

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Keita, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Mane, Jota

Fresh off their win against Manchester City, Klopp has no fresh injuries to worry about for their upcoming match against Manchester United in the Premier League. Jota was on the bench against Man City as he had a knock from their Champions League match against Benfica, but he has been in great form this season and a regular starter thus it can be assumed he will be back in the starting XI against Manchester United.

The back four for Liverpool picks itself on most matchdays as they are one of the toughest defences in Europe this season. The midfield will also most likely stay unchanged as they all produced fantastic performances in the semi-finals of the FA Cup against Manchester City. 

Luis Diaz played well against Manchester City, but Jota's goal-scoring knack will be needed hence why he will most likely replace the Columbian from the start. Although, Diaz may have an important role coming off the bench when Klopp wants fresh legs against the shaky Manchester United defence.

Manchester United XI:  De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Dalot; Matic, Pogba; Elanga, Fernandes, Sancho; Rashford

Manchester United are without Edinson Cavani (Calf Injury), Scott McTominay (Foot Injury), Raphaël Varane (Muscular problems) and Luke Shaw (Leg Injury) for the second matchday in a row. Therefore, with the limited squad depth, Man Utd have, the lineup will be mostly unchanged from the one that faced Norwich City in the 3-2 triumph.

The one change may potentially be upfront with Ronaldo, as he recently announced the unfortunate passing of his newborn baby boy. There has been no news since of his availability but it is safe to assume that Ronaldo will most likely be absent from the matchday squad. Rashford should be the most obvious replacement for Ronaldo, with no other striker available. Ralf, as seen against Leicester and Man City opted against Rashford when Ronaldo wasn't available. This was mainly due to the poor form Rashford is in, but the results against City and Leicester were far from satisfactory hence this time Ralf may be using Rashford from the start against Liverpool. 

Ones to Watch:

Liverpool: 

Mo Salah scored a hat-trick the last times the two sides faced in the Premier League, and with the shaky Man Utd defence, he will likely have a goal involvement or two. He was relatively quiet against Man City, but with the home crowd advantage, I feel as if Mo Salah will have better performance and I also expect him to have two shots on target minimum in this match

Thiago and Keita will be vital in midfield in picking passes and their movement as they caused Man City problems last weekend. Man Utd's midfield has also underperformed this season, hence it can be expected that the midfield battle will most likely be in Liverpool's favour. Fabinho may be booked as Man Utd may rely on counter-attacks with the pace they have up front and it may be required at one point for the Liverpool defensive midfielder to stop these attacks.

Manchester United:

Most Manchester United players have been well below par this season in the Premier League as well as all other competitions. If Rashford is to play it will be a big ask to step up against Konate and Van Djik, although last season Rashford faced Konate in the Champions League when the latter came to Old Trafford with his former club RB Leipzig. Rashford did score a hat-trick but with his current form this season I suspect he will have a difficult game but I do expect him to have 1 or more shots on target.

Elanga has been a bright spark in recent times, producing the odd goal here and there but his inexperience in big games may cause him to have a quiet game. Sancho may be the better performer out of the three as his game is more mature and he's been in better form as well. I expect Sancho to have at least 1 shot on target.

Maguire and Matic are the most likely players to get booked as they tend to mis-time challenges quite frequently. Bruno Fernandes as well as he is a player who wears his heart on his sleeve every game.

David De Gea will most likely be the stand out performer for Man Utd again this season. He has produced some stunning saves which have saved Man Utd many points in the Premier League this season. And with the form of Liverpool and it is an away game, there will be constant Liverpool attacks and shots at his goal due to the incompetence of the defence in front of him.

Prediction

Taking into account form and previous meetings this fixture is heavily in favour of Liverpool. There most likely will be 2 or more goals in this game as recently both teams haven't kept clean sheets but it is expected that Man Utd will concede more goals. Thus, the majority watching know Liverpool are the favourites and could win by a considerable amount of 2/3 goals.

However, in big derby matches, form and history usually mean nothing. This can be seen with the recent El-Clasico where Madrid were in fine form but lost 4-0 to Barcelona who have been below par this season. This shows that in football anything can happen and Man Utd could pull off an upset as they do require a win to keep their top-four hopes alive. If they were to win it would be a very close scoreline with 1 or 2 goals to separate the sides. 

 (Published at 10:00am on 19/04/22)