Jose Mourinho and his united army prepare to host the free scoring Liverpool at old Trafford. The league certainly have been decided with Manchester City maintaining a superior 16 points advantage over Manchester united but the second position slot is far from over as Liverpool have resurge from a November fight for 4th position to a surprising El Clasico game for the 2nd position in March.
The Merseyside side are just two points behind the Manchester club but a win could move them to 2nd place. Manchester united on the other hand might have had slips during the festive season and in the New Year but they have demonstrated comeback spirit in their last two league games with victories over Chelsea and Crystal palace.
Liverpool have demonstrated ruthlessness already this year with a victories over Porto in the champions league as well as handing Guardiola his first and only league defeat. Manchester united on the other hand have been shaky a times and it has prompted Mourinho to revert back to his negative football. Mourinho in his press conference highlighted that Liverpool don’t not have a perfect team while saying that their vulnerabilities could be exploited.
Manchester united boasts the best defensive record with the side only conceding 22 times in 29 games while their opponent boast goal scoring record of hitting the target 67 times and is only bettered by league leaders Manchester city. The Liverpool attacking trio of Saidu Mane, Roberto Firminho and Mohammed Salah alone have been involved in 99 goals with 68 goals scored and 31 assisted this season. Mourinho is certainly aware of the stats but it will be interesting to see the selection the Portuguese will deploy considering a lot of casualties in his side with 7 players down in the sidelines.
Mourinho’s biggest headache will be to curtail high scoring Mohammed Salah as the Egyptian have already netted 26 times in the league this season. Mourinho against Chelsea deployed Mc-tominay against Chelsea primarily to man-mark Eden Hazard and might still surprise the fans today. Kloop on the other hand will be wary of Romelu Lukaku as well as Alexis Sanchez.