The State of Play
Manchester United versus Liverpool remains one of the iconic fixtures in English football and all eyes will be on Old Trafford on Sunday when they meet in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
United continue to blow hot and cold with three wins and two defeats in their last five games. Their last outing was a 2-0 win over Everton that flattered them with Sean Dyche’s Premier League strugglers dominating for long spells.
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In contrast, Liverpool have lost just once since a 0-0 draw with United at Anfield on December 17 and remain on course for a domestic and continental quadruple in Jurgen Klopp’s final season in charge.
The visitors will be backed by 9000 fans at Old Trafford in what should be a white-hot atmosphere.
Team News
Erik ten Hag and Manchester United will be without some key players for this weekend with the likes of Tyrell Malacia, Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez all unavailable but midfielder Mason Mount has returned to first-team training. Rasmus Hojlund, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire are all set to be available.
Liverpool have been injury ravaged in the last month or so but the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah have returned. The visitors remain without key men Alisson and Trent Alexander-Arnold while Ibrahima Konate is set to undergo a late fitness test.
Bobby Clark and Ryan Gravenberch are fit and available.
Ibrahima Konate is likely to miss our #EmiratesFACup quarter-final against Manchester United, but Ryan Gravenberch and Bobby Clark are available:
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 15, 2024
Expected Line-ups
Manchester United: Onana; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Lindelof; Mainoo, Casemiro; Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund
Liverpool: Kelleher; Bradley, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Endo, Elliott; Salah, Nunez, Diaz
What they Said
Erik ten Hag on which team will start as favourites on Sunday
“I never think about who is favourite. It starts 0-0. We make sure we’re ready. We respect every opposition but it’s about ‘make it our game’. We know where the strengths are, where the weaknesses are. It’s about our team being in the best [performance].”
Jurgen Klopp on the difficulty of playing at Old Trafford
“I don’t know too much about their season, but I saw a few really, really good games, there is a lot of quality there, they had injury problems obviously. I do not know which players are available, Hjolund maybe is available again? Wan-Bissaka is close, who was not previously. That obviously makes a difference, but we will see on Sunday. But again, it was always a tough place for us to go, it means everything to both fan groups, we know that. We try to show that on the pitch with the work rate, but we never know. There are no guarantees, just opportunities, that is how we see it and we are really willing to give it a try.”
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at Old Trafford at 15:30 on Sunday March 17th and will be shown live on ITV1 in the UK. It will also be able to be streamed live via the ITVX app.
Prediction
It is the penultimate time that these two old rivals will face each other in the Jurgen Klopp-era. Since Klopp arrived at Liverpool, the two teams have played each other 19 times across all competitions with Liverpool winning seven, Manchester United winning four and there being eight draws in that time. Recent clashes have been dominated by the Merseysiders, though, with four wins and a draw in their last six games. The aggregate score in those six matches is 21-3. United made life difficult for Liverpool at Anfield in December and will be set up to do so again this time around but the visitors remain firm favourites.
