After suffering a shock defeat to Burnley on Thursday evening, Liverpool have to regroup quickly to face rival Man United in the FA Cup. It is the second-straight Sunday that the two rivals will face off, after drawing 0-0 at Anfield in PL action.
For Liverpool, the Reds will be looking to right the ship before the season goes into a full-on tailspin.
Manchester United at Liverpool FA Cup 4th Round FYIs
Kick off: 5:00 pm GMT, Sun. Jan 24
Starting XI Predictions: United Liverpool
Team news: United Liverpool
TV: BBC
Key Stat: United’s most common opponent in this competition is Liverpool, as they’ve met 17 times previously
Series History: United wins 88 times, Liverpool wins 77, Draws 68
Injury News
Jordan Henderson was a surprise miss on Thursday night, suffering from a “minor muscle strain.” It is unclear on if he will be available for Sunday, but Liverpool are likely to be cautious with their captain.
Diogo Jota will be unavailable after suffering an knee injury against FC Midtjylland in the Champions League. Jota is getting closer, but is still in a brace and is a few more weeks away. Naby Keita is out with a muscle injury and Jurgen Klopp said he would be back soon, but no timetable has been given.
Kostas Tsimikas will also miss the United game with an injury.
Virgil van Dijk (Klopp spoke about him in detail yesterday) and Joe Gomez remain out, but Liverpool posted videos of both players deep in their rehab on Thursday. There is a hope one or both could return by the end of the season, but there is no definite timetable on either one.
Liverpool Attack Woes
The calendar turning to 2021 has not been kind to Liverpool’s attack. Liverpool have scored four goals in four games in 2021, all against Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round. In that game Villa played with their youth side because of a COVID outbreak.
Liverpool have gone 438 minutes without scoring a goal in the Premier League, with four shutouts on the bounce.
Captain Jordan Henderson tried to downplay the idea of the scoring drought being the fault of just the attackers. He said this week that “every single one of us is responsible for the team scoring goals and every single one of us is responsible for the team not scoring goals. It is that simple.”
Still, there has been a lack of fluidity with the Liverpool attack that has been their trademark lately. The Reds need to find that again quickly, if they are going to salvage anything at all this season.
Wijnaldum update
Gini Wijnaldum’s future at Liverpool remains up in the air. The Dutchman’s contract expires at the end of the season, and he is linked heavily with a move to Barcelona.
On Thursday, he told Sky Sports there was “no update yet,” and said that Liverpool should be the one giving the updates. Liverpool would like to have Wijnaldum back, but the contract situation is tricky for a 30-year-old midfielder.