Why Manchester United will beat Liverpool at Anfield

What makes Manchester United weaker, ironically makes them the privileged side.

Liverpool versus Manchester United still remains a derby classic in English football no matter what the papers will want to say going into game.

Both North Western sides are old rivals as far as rivalries can go, with the bitterness between both teams ingrained in their history, their pride and a quest to reign supreme over the English football terrain.

However, recent history and form has rendered this fixture a one-sided fare with the Merseyside Reds holding the advantage over their sworn rivals, the Red Devils. But saying Liverpool has since held the advantage over Manchester United is perhaps writing the Red Devils off just because a few results deemed it so.

Of course, back to back clean sheets for Liverpool at Anfield or a big margin score line for the Merseyside team in this fixture is evident enough to write off Manchester United, but the fact that both teams are huge rivals, makes this season fixture a complicated affair that Jurgen Klopp’s team will find tricky.

Heading into the tie, stands a visiting Manchester United team with everything going against them; form, confidence, results, injuries and suspension to key players and low self esteem. However, in as much as the Red Devils have all the negatives on them, the negatives itself is perhaps a blessing in disguise.

The Manchester United team will be heading to Anfield ironically with a couple of fresh faces, with at least 8 players who started the 7-0 affair last season set to miss this clash. Add to it, Erik ten Hag’s team will be missing 13 first team players in the lineup, thus giving young faces and the likes of Sofyan Amrabat, Hojlund, Garnacho a chance to prove themselves.

A team down on confidence and with perhaps nothing to prove, cancels one weakness every other team has; pressure. Manchester United will head into this clash free of pressure, little spotlight to deliver and more freedom to express themselves in front of their enemy’s fans with little to no scrutiny.

While it is very much a possibility that this all could eventually go in favor of Liverpool, and an Anfield humiliation may seem very inevitable, Jurgen Klopp’s men now face the pressure; to beat their rival for the glory and to remain top of the premier league table.

And like they say, a man with pressure, is one with a sense of urgency. Urgency in football can end up the undoing of the dream team.