Liverpool vs United: The toughest test for Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool hopes to snatch the top spot in the English Football League temporarily, when it hosts Manchester United this evening (22:00 Beirut time). United wants to beat Liverpool in order to complicate its chances of winning the title this year at the expense of its neighbor, Manchester City. City leads the standings with 74 points, one point ahead of Liverpool, who is looking for a historic quartet. The task of German coach Jurgen Klopp’s men will not be easy against the “Red Devils” team, which is returning strongly to the race to reserve a seat in the parent competition next season thanks to the hat-trick of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo in the victory over Norwich City (3-2) on Saturday, to advance to fifth place with a score 54 points. However, the numbers tend in favor of Liverpool, who did not taste the taste of losing against his rival in the league in seven matches, as he achieved 4 wins against 3 draws, while the “Red Devils” failed to score at “Anfield” in four of his last five matches, noting that three It ended in a negative draw.

Liverpool is armed with a series of 10 victories in a row at home in the “Premier League” and lost once in its last 24 matches in various competitions, and by turning “Anfield” into a fortress, where it did not lose at home this season in the league, winning 12 games and drawing in three.
It is expected that Klopp will make several changes to his squad that beat Manchester City last Saturday (3-2), while he will rely again on the explosive attacking duo of Egyptian Mohamed Salah and Senegalese Sadio Mane. Despite the recent decline in Salah’s level, as he scored only a goal in his last 12 matches in the shirt of his team and the “Pharaohs” team, he is considered terrifying “demons”, as he visited his net 7 times in his last five matches in various competitions. Mane will be a trump card for the Reds after he led them to beat City by scoring two goals, while the tall French defender Ibrahima Konate returned to the fore, scoring three goals in his last three matches after waiting 19 games to open his tally with Liverpool.
On the other hand, United seeks to build on its victory against Norwich to follow up on its victories, knowing that it has won only two of the last eight matches in various competitions, compared to three draws and the same number of defeats.
On the other hand, very important matches will be played on Wednesday, as Manchester City will face Brighton (22:00), while the summit will be the “London derby” meeting between Chelsea and Arsenal (21:45). Wednesday also plays Everton with Leicester City (21:45) in a postponed meeting of the eighteenth stage, Newcastle with Crystal Palace and Burnley with Southampton at the same time.