Here we go- the mother of all rivalries in English football. Liverpool visit Manchester United Saturday afternoon with second place in the Premier League table on the line. For United, they have a slew of key players hurt. Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and defenders Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind and Phil Jones have all missed time recently due to injury.
Midfielders Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera remain long term absentees. Forward Anthony Martial is a doubt after missing the exciting come from behind win over Crystal Palace due to a knock.
Mourinho has said that this will be Ibrahimovic’s final year with the club, but that doesn’t mean the Swede will be rushed back into action, and he remains a doubt for this match.
Having already routed FC Porto 5-0 during the away leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie, all Liverpool had to do Tuesday night at Anfield was go through the motions, and it gave manager Jurgen Klopp a chance to rotate his side for the this blockbuster fixture of the weekend. Klopp was happy with what his side has accomplished thus far, but is of course not yet satisfied, as they have an eye on advancing further through Europe.
Klopp made five changes to his starting XI, one in which the ultimate outcome was long decided. His most valuable defender (Virgil van Dijk), and forward (Mohamed Salah) played only substitute minutes. Captain Jordan Henderson was set back by a dead leg, but told media after the game that he’ll be good to go this weekend.
Georginio Wijnaldum is likely to miss out due to an illness and Nathaniel Clyne is still not fully recovered from a back injury. Otherwise, Liverpool have a clean bill of health.
Man United Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Liverpool Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp Press Conference Videos: coming Friday
Odds via OddsChecker: Man United 19/11, Draw 22/9, Liverpool 9/5
Prediction: Man United 1, Liverpool 1
As always, feel free to post to your own United and/or Liverpool starting XI predictions, as well as your score predictions, in the comments section below
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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