Carol Tshabalala and Robert Marawa give their thoughts ahead of Sunday’s titanic Premier League encounter between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield.
Another chapter will be added to the greatest rivalry in English football this weekend, with Jurgen Klopp’s men still pushing for a Champions League place, and Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils out to maintain the pressure on Manchester City and Arsenal at the summit of the league standings.
The hosts are sixth, just six points off the top four which, considering the season they’ve had, is a fantastic place to be. They head into this one after a 2-0 midweek win at home over Wolves which followed up a goalless draw at Selhurst Park last weekend.
“The difficulty with Liverpool is that they’re very erratic, very inconsistent,” said Marawa. “But I think the thrill here is about playing at Anfield where you’ve got to go back as far as January 2016 for the last time Manchester United won a league game at Anfield.
“But games like this, history counts for nothing. Liverpool have got everything to play for and I think it’s going to be a very difficult one to call.”
Tshabalala added: “It’s happening at Anfield, so once again Liverpool are definitely believing the crowd will be critical. It certainly was against Wolves with Liverpool getting that all-important victory and closing the gap on the Premier League top four.
“That Wolves victory came at a time when Liverpool was very low on morale, but we saw some really key performances from Virgil van Dijk, from Mohammed Salah. And Fabinho as well; he’s been under so much pressure lately and put in a fantastic shift.
“These are all individuals that are going to be important on Sunday.”
Goal ✅
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 3, 2023
Clean sheet ✅@VirgilvDijk in #LIVWOL 👌 pic.twitter.com/oxgncuETDw
United (third) are still riding the momentum of their 2-0 Carabao Cup final triumph over Newcastle – their first piece of silverware since 2016 – and can yet challenge City and Arsenal for Premier League honours given their current form and standing.
They’ve lost just one of their last 11 Premier League games and come off the back of a 3-1 fifth-round FA Cup tie with West Ham at Old Trafford.
“Given the dominance of Liverpool through recent seasons and the struggle of Manchester United, I think this particular game’s interest is spiked not in Liverpool’s great performances but simply Man United’s top form under coach Erik ten Hag,” noted Marawa.
“The fact that they’ve just won themselves the Carabao Cup adds to the premise of a team that is on the up and up.”
“United have been in sparkling form,” concurred Tshabalala. “From the Carabao Cup victory to sealing a spot in the FA Cup quarterfinals, they’re definitely a team on a roll. It will be the United boss’ first experience at Anfield since taking over, so he’s coming into this clash very cautiously.
“But they did win the first round of this encounter [2-1 at Old Trafford in August] and they’ll look to make it a rare double. The last time Manchester United completed a league double over Liverpool was in the 2015/16 season.”
When it came to making a prediction, Marawa was tentative.
“It truly is the biggest game as far as English football is concerned. Every time Manchester United gets to play against Liverpool the expectations are pretty high.
“I see this as a scoring game. I really don’t think it’ll end in a 0-0 draw whatsoever. So brace yourselves for some good football, I really think it’ll be a humdinger.”
And Tshabalala?
“United are the form team, so on paper it should be a narrow Man United victory, but my gut says draw or Liverpool win.”
The game gets underway at 18:30 on Sunday.
