Mark Lawrenson believes Manchester United and Liverpool will draw this afternoon.
Pundit Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he thinks Manchester United and Liverpool will play out a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford this afternoon.
After some growing pains under Jose Mourinho, Manchester United are finally starting to click with the former Chelsea boss at the helm, having won each of their last six Premier League games.
General view as the teams come out before the game
It’s now 14 games unbeaten in all competitions for United, and they’ve managed to claw their way back into the race for a Champions League place, with the likes of Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all beginning to thrive together.
Today, they take on fierce rivals Liverpool in one of world football’s most famous derbies, and fans will be looking for a more exciting affair than their last meeting, which finished in a 0-0 draw at Anfield in October.
Liverpool have endured a couple of frustrating results, as drew 2-2 away at Sunderland in their last Premier League outing, and were then held to a 0-0 draw at home to League Two side Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup last weekend, before losing 1-0 to Southampton in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night.
Mark Lawrenson
Jurgen Klopp has issues to deal with, as Joel Matip and Jordan Henderson are injury doubts, whilst Sadio Mane has gone to the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal – but Philippe Coutinho may be fit to return after a lengthy injury layoff.
Ahead of today’s game, pundit and former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he thinks the two sides will draw again, this time 1-1.
Lawrenson thinks that United will be ‘far more ambitious’ going forward than they were in October’s game against Liverpool, and added that Klopp may have to risk Matip and Henderson in such a huge game, even if they’re not fully fit.
“Manchester United got a 0-0 draw at Anfield in October in a game that was basically a Jose Mourinho masterpiece,” said Lawrenson. “His gameplan was to restrict Liverpool to relatively few chances, and it worked. United will be far more ambitious in attack at Old Trafford, however, and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has some big decisions to make over the fitness of some of his players.”
“If Joel Matip is 75% fit I think Klopp will be tempted to play him, especially if Jordan Henderson is not quite ready. This is a massive game for both teams and I think it will end up with a point apiece. I think Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham would settle for that result too,” he added.
What’s your prediction for Manchester United against Liverpool?
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