Liverpool 0 Man Utd 0: David de Gea the hero for United as Jose Mourinho parks the bus again
If you feel that the old English Clasico should be played with a bit more ambition by Manchester United at Anfield, then Jose Mourinho has a clear message for you, and the message is that the problem lies with you, not the nine men he has massed on the edge of his own team’s area.
Mourinho has a fair bit of a history at this stadium, not all of it good for him but none more poignant than the 2014 game featuring the famous Steven Gerrard slip, a fork in the road of English football when the home team were arguably denied the league title for which they have waited so long. On that occasion he is reputed to have shouted in triumph in the tunnel that Brendan Rodgers’ team had mistakenly expected his Chelsea side to be the “clowns” of the piece.
In short, they had expected Chelsea, then in the first season of Mourinho’s second spell there, to turn up and play the open football that Liverpool needed them to in order that the home team might win. Mourinho, as if anyone needed reminding, never willingly wears the oversize shoes and squirty bowtie, and on this occasion too, he came determined to do exactly what Jurgen Klopp’s team, with only one win in seven before kick-off, did not want United to do.
Asked afterwards if the game had delivered the requisite entertainment for this famous fixture, Mourinho raised an eyebrow. “It depends what for you is an entertaining game,” he said. “One thing is an entertaining game for fans, another thing is an entertaining game for the people who read football in a different way. That's different.”
In other words, if you don’t like this then, regrettably, that is your fault. A United team on a high, having scored an average of three goals a game, were not about to lose their heads at Anfield and risk defeat when a goalless draw was well within their grasp. Mourinho was without the newly-injured Eric Bailly and Marouane Fellaini, both the result of knocks during the international break. Paul Pogba is also missing and Marcus Rashford was judged only fit enough for the bench. But even with them available there could have been no guarantees Mourinho would have been any different.
Their star of the show was David De Gea, who made a sensational left-footed save from Joel Matip, an unlikely recipient of Liverpool’s best chance of the match when Roberto Firmino recycled the ball and crossed after a corner. Jurgen Klopp thought there should have been a penalty for Liverpool, although the incident in question was not obvious. He also claimed a potential red card which would have been hard on Romelu Lukaku when Dejan Lovren may have caught a stray boot.
It was worse for Klopp who unleashed every one of his six first-choice attackers on United at different times in search of his first league win since August. Mohamed Salah, Firmino, Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Dominic Solanke all played some part and the Liverpool manager maintained afterwards that there was still much to be positive about in his team’s general dominance of the ball and their ambition to go forward.
The absent Sadio Mane, out with that hamstring tear picked up playing for Senegal, is the big miss for this team who passed the ball well at times but just could not break down a United back four shielded by Nemanja Vidic. As for United, they kept it simple and when Lukaku took his first touch on 17 minutes, you already knew from which section of the playbook Mourinho had lifted this gameplan.
Mourinho’s complaint was that for the three attacking players that Klopp brought on, the Liverpool manager never adjusted the shape of his team. Mourinho compared it to a game of chess, “but my opponent didn't open the door for me to win the game”. He seemed to be anticipating that the risk in the final part of the game would be taken by the home manager and in turn present his side with an opening but in the end Liverpool pressed in vain until the end without ever creating a serious chance.
Their best was still the shot by Matip from close range that De Gea somehow saved when it felt inevitable that the net in front of the Anfield Road end was about to bulge. De Gea has the habit of making even the best finishers look sloppy and inaccurate on front of goal, and with a defender it had to be the finish of Matip’s career to beat this remarkable goalkeeper.
The referee in charge of this tense, anxious game was Martin Atkinson who overlooked what Liverpool claimed were trips on Coutinho in either half by Antonio Valencia and Ander Herrera. Atkinson generally controlled it well, waiting until deep into the second half to finally get a yellow out for Chris Smalling, having made it clear in the early stages that it would have to be something pretty serious to convince him to use the cards early on.
Liverpool had a plan to win the game, they just did not have the man who could do it for them. Come the second half, their territorial gains were massive and they played mostly in United’s half, yet they never managed to pull Mourinho’s team out of shape. Matic was an influential figure in front of United’s back four and while they were under pressure they never looked close to going to pieces.
Coutinho, substituted with 12 minutes left, was always the greatest individual threat to whom the United rear-guard gave due deference, standing off him as he twisted and turned and sought out space around the area. “I told the boys after the game, we decided to take the hard way when we joined Liverpool,” Klopp said. “It’s obvious we cannot win something in a holiday mood but we are in a holiday mood, working hard, the boys, I really like how they handle the situation.”
What he was saying was that there would be no panic at the club, although he did acknowledge that United had fulfilled their ambition for the afternoon whilst Liverpool had not been able to. That is what Mourinho specialises in doing, and nowhere more so in recent years than at Anfield where he turns the occasion into the kind of game he wants – and could not care less what anyone thinks about it.
Joe Gomez was man of the match
And says: 'A bit frustrating, got to take the positives - a point and a clean sheet against a good team. We have to take the positives.'
Joel Matip: 'It's OK we can live with this. It was a great save from De Gea but we did have some opportunities. I was a little bit surprised, his reaction was brilliant. I have to score.'
Full time
Manchester United head east back up the M62 with the point I'm sure they would have settled for all week. It's enough to put them a point ahead of City at the top of the table before their game with Stoke City. Liverpool were the more adventurous, by far the better side in attack and midfield but couldn't penetrate United's defence and their impeccable goalkeeper.
Time on ball (at full time)
Average touch positions (90 + 4 min)
90+4 min
The corner is bent artfully on to Matip's head but he smears it over the bar. A second later Martin Atkinson blows for time.
90+3 min
United defend two throws with headers up the line but Moreno gives Liverpool a last gasp with a break down the left and a cross that's blocked out for a corner.
90+2 min
Victor Lindelof replaces Ashley Young.
90 min
Oxlade-Chamberlain takes, the ball is headed out at the near post by Lukaku and he takes the encore that is headed high wide and hideous over the bar by Dejan Lovren. Three more minutes of this.
89 min
United have done nothing going forward this half and are still being pinned back by Liverpool. Oxlade-Chamberlain bends a run past Darmian but his cross is terrible and booted out for a throw, from which Liverpool earn a corner.
88 min
Rashfird tries to diddle Gomez with quick feet and a feint but the right-back refuses to be mesmerised and whips the ball away by the byline.
87 min
Solanke replaces Firmino for Liverpool.
86 min
Young is booked for a high footed block on Moreno. He smiles and shakes his head.
85 min
Gary Neville says United's quality has been 'woeful'. De Gea apart and though his clearance just clipped Henderson who was closing him down, it deflected to safety.
83 min
Can storms through midfield, tacking to the left like a battleship until he gets to the edge of the area where eh shapes to blast a left foot shot but instead of torpedoing it, he dribbles a daisy-cutter low to De Gea's left and the keeper swoops low to gather.
81 min
United have a rare thrust up the left. Rashford prevents the ball running out for a goalkick by flicking it out for a throw instead from which Darmian challenges for the ball wit his foot so high he trims Wijnaldum's nasal hair. And gives himself cramp too. Free kick but no booking.
80 min
Oxlade-Chamberlain is on the right, Firmino the left. Oxlade-Chamberlain races past Darmian and whips in a right-foot cross through the six-yard box for Sturridge's run. Jones' size 11 to the rescue.
78 min
Double Liverpool substitution; Coutinho and Salah off, Sturridge and Oxlade-Chamberlain on. Could have been more bold, there, taking off Can or Wijnaldum rather than Coutinho and dropping 'Phil' back.
77 min
Liverpool are about to bring on Daniel Sturridge who 'has half of Beaverbrooks round his neck', says Gary Neville. Looks like most of the Vatican gift shop to me.
75 min
Darmian looks thoroughly pooped but has coped well, perhaps because he has coped well. United hold their line and Salah decides to go for a long-range, very chancy shot that flies hopelessly wide.
Time on ball (60 - 75 min)
73 min
Atkinson finally gets his book out for Smalling's tug on Coutinho's shirt to foil a counter. He deserved it ... but so did Lukaku and Wijnaldum for more reckless misdemeanours.
71 min
Firmino wriggles free of Valencia on the left after the United captain springs the off-side trap all alone. He lobs a cross over De Gea towards the back post but Salah can not reach it as the backdraft parts his hair.
70 min
Another nasty tackle, this one from Wijnaldum on Herrera, studs first and depositing all six of them into his opponent's calf.
69 min
This is starting to have the air of a typical Mourinho mugging. Liverpool, clearly on top, need to score while they're dominant. They need to make a change even though they're playing well.
67 min
Gomez blocks Matic's clearance and bends a glorious pass down the outside left from the centre to Firmino who skips inside but can't get on the same wavelength as Coutinho, misdirecting his cross too close to De Gea.
66 min
Salah takes a pass from Henderson 25 yards out with his back to goal. He turns, takes two strides and wellies a terrible shot into the Kop.
65 min
Second United sub: Rashford for Martial.
64 min
Lingard replaces Mkhitaryan. Liverpool corner when Wijnaldum gets the better of Herrera down the Liverpool right. They are carving United apart down the flanks this half.
62 min
That hits the first man but Coutinho recovers to make a dart towards the box where he is upended by a combination of a clumsy Herrera and his own feet. Atkinson turns down vociferous penalty appeals. Sound the 'seen 'em given' alert.
60 min
Matic takes the responsibility for taking the ball and holding on to it by playing short passes and reducing the tempo. Still Liverpool break up the right when their opponents lose possession from a throw. Salah pelts off but Darmian, who has looked angsty all game robs him with a fine diving tackle. Corner.
Time on ball (45 - 60 min)
58 min
United are going to make a change imminently and need to. Jamie Carragher thinks if Liverpool did, too, taking off one of Herrera, Can or Wijnaldum for a forward, it could turn the game. He fears Klopp always sticks with his starting XI too long.
57 min
That's a sensational diagonal ball from Gomez from 35 yards towards the six-yard box. Smalling and Herrera play after you, Claud, and Can nips in to try to steer it in with his left but bundles it wide.
55 min
Firmino clips a firm pass in from the left-wing, hit horizontally to about 22 yards from goal. Coutinho hits a shot it into Jones and it bounces up for Wijnaldum awkwardly. He sees the onrushing De Gea and tries to loop it over him but though he gets it up he can't get it down in time.
52 min
Liverpool try to pass it through United's two banks of four but fall short with the killer pass until Coutinho picks out a glorious one that works only because Firmino was offisde. De Gea saved the first-time shot anyway. United have defended generally very well but Mkhitaryan has hardly been in it and he needs to impose himself. Coutinho is beginning to exert that sort of grip.
50 min
The cross is lofted over the box to Firmino who eventually works a position to chip towards the penalty spot. Smalling heads it clear. Going for height on the cross, rather than whip, dampened the urgency of everything this half from Liverpool that had preceded it.
48 min
Wijnaldum moves the ball to Coutinho down the left again and he feeds Firmino who wins the corner. Salah takes and Young blocks the cross then dives into a challenge when Salah has another go. Free kick.
47 min
Jones in a blind funk passes straight to Firmino just advanced of the centre-circle. He bursts into space and shifts the ball diagonally down the inside left channel for Coutinho who soft-shoe shuffles his way to the byline. He tries to drag back a cross but the flag goes up.
46 min
United kick off with Jones putting his laces through a ball up the right designed to allow United to beast Moreno but the wee tattoo addict copes with it diligently and bravely.
He's not that type of player klaxon
From Graeme Souness on Romelu Lukaku whose left heel scraped Dejan Lovren in the face following a shoulder charge. He needs to screw the nut at half time or will end up with the red card he probably deserved in the first.
No picture of the save yet
But this, just before it, shows how much distance De Gea had to make with his left leg to block. He did the splits. I haven't seen a better goalkeeper at saving with his feet.
Salah is Liverpool's key player
As expected Liverpool have dominated the ball:
And have had the better chances:
Half time
That was frantic with real moments of quality. Absorbing and played with the traditional tenor of hysteria from the crowd.
The shot count is similar
Liverpool have attempted nine shots so far, compared to six for Man Utd.
Time on ball (first half)
Average touch positions (half time)
45 min
Lukaku shoulder-charges Lovren which forces the centre-back to the turf where he is caught in the ribs and the face by Lukaku's left foot then right.
44 min
Lukaku spanks a shot from 18 yards that stings Mignolet's palms as he slaps it away. Set up by a one-two with Martial and the latter's slick pass. Moreno and Lovren fly in to smother Young's rebound effort.
42 min
Excellent build-up from Coutinho slaloming through the box on the left but his final ball, as Manchester United backed off in fear of tripping him, was too close to De Gea.
41 min
Salah has a heavy first touch 25 yards out that makes him have to hurry his shot which he carves way too close to De Gea who swallows it the restarts quickly. Firmino goes up for it and Herrera bundles him over.
40 min
This doesn't do justice to the save but it shows how Liverpool got round the back.
38 min
Lukaku leads with an outstretched leg when Gomez had won the ball, giving him a kind of malevolent hurdle. Should have been booked but wasn't.
35 min
Superb save from De Gea with an outstretched left foot from point blank range to deny Matip. Firmino had created the chance by bending a run in round the back to exploit Lukaku's dithering. He clipped the cross to the near post where Matip, up for a corner, stabbed a low half-volley towards the centre of goal. De Gea stretched himself to block and Salah turned the rebound wide form 15 yards.
33 min
Good intervention by Can, whisking the ball off Lukaku and bombing 50 yards but the layoff takes all the pace out of the counter and United manage to intercept. He should have had a dig.
32 min
Manchester United clearly see the path to goal is Moreno Road.
30 min
Herrera chips a pass from the right of centre over Moreno's head for Young while Rip van Moreno takes a nap. Young pulls back a cross to the edge of the area via a deflection and Matic with a brilliant late run - an 'arrive' as Ron Atkinson used to call it - meets it first time at the edge of the box with a left-foot shot that he slices about half a yard wide.
Time on ball (15 - 30 min)
28 min
Matip brings the ball into the United half, prods a pass through to Salah on the right. He plays a combo with Firmino and the latter runs into the box but fouls up his low cross.
26 min
United ask for a afoul and should have been given one when Lovren bodychecks Young off the ball to stop him latching on to Mkhitaryan's throughball. Atkinson says it was legal. Hmm. Firmino's negligent pass straight to Young launched the attack.
25 min
Lukaku has got round the back of Moreno, holds him off and the ball up but overhits his back-post cross, ballooning it too far beyond Martial.
23 min
Lazy foul by Gomez on the United right, 25 yards out, tripping Martial rather than keeping pace with him. Young takes it woefully and hits the first man, Salah.
21 min
Cross from the left into the United box isn't dealt with. Moreno's arcing ball takes out De Gea and Jones but just eludes Salah. Firmino out on the right recycles and the cross takes a touch off Darmian and runs half a yard in front of Salah across goal with De Gea out of position because of the deflection.
19 min
Salah is playing really well, drifting in from the right to play the No10 role. His positioning demands the ball and Liverpol keep finding him. He drops his shoulder to shake off Matic and threads a pass diagonally to Coutinho on the left in the box. He takes a touch to give him the space to bend a shot in to the far post but Smalling dives in to whip it away.
18 min
Salah takes a headlong plunge to the turf as he tries to capitalise on a quick, disputed Liverpool freekick. The Kop bellows for a penalty with an unusually high-pitched fervour but he trod on Jones' foot then jumped on his invisible pogo stick.
17 min
Gomez has the edge on Martial as he nips forward to take a good Firmino pass but the full-back's cross gives Martial time to recover and he blocks it.
Time on ball (0 - 15 min)
15 min
Lovely work from Salah to spin Matic from the middle of the park, 35 yards out. He bursts forward, plays a quick pass to Wijnaldum on the right who digs out a shot but takes too much of the turf with the ball and scoops it into De Gea's grasp.
Liverpool are dominating the ball so far
Liverpool are letting the ball do the work - they've had 164 touches compared to just 74 for Man Utd.
13 min
Gary Neville thinks Liverpool need more snap to break United down, more pace in their passing and movement. They're bossing possession but Manchester United do look very compact.
11 min
Matip gallops forward to join the midfield, sees a gap between Jones and Darmian and keeps going but his shot, spooned high, is pure centre-half. Quips about altitude sickness and nosebleeds abound.
Liverpool respond
The hosts have their first shot of the game, in reply to two so far from Man Utd.
9 min
A frantic pace and end-to-end so far with Valencia and Young having the best of United's thrusts on the right and Liverpool moving the ball around slickly in front of United's two banks of four. Both are tryingto raid rapidly on the counter.
7 min
Martial has a run but Gomez stands up to his quick footwork and thwarts his progress. Liverpool then hit on the counter with Wijnaldum, Salah and Firmino combining to work a chance from the left cut into the box but the stabbed shot from the No9 is gobbled up by De Gea.
5 min
Herrera goes through Coutinho from the back, sending him sprawling on to his face. Free-kick. Salah and Wijnaldum team up on the left to overload on Darmian but Manchester United see it off when the left-back gets a tow in to poke it back to De Gea who clears it long up the left.
3 min
Valencia is doing a man-marking job on Coutinho and is currently everywhere as Young fills in for him at right-back. Liverpool pass it around at the back after Valencia cit out a ball threaded through the inside-left channel that Valencia cut out.
2 min
Valencia, from the throw-in, bombs on to the byline and has his cross blocked. Corner. Mkhitaryan takes it to the near post. Wijnaldum, under no significant pressure, blasts it out for another that Liverpool deal with confidently and competently.
1 min
Young is starting on the right and tries to shift the ball forward as they start at a hectic pace. Moreno comes over to head out a hooked ball over the top that threatened to bounce over him.
Apologies for the technical issues
We're about to start ...
So how will United line up?
Last season they went to Anfield and played a kind of 4-3-3/4-3-2-1. Today could be either 3-4-2-1 - De Gea; Smalling, Jones, Darmian; Valencia, Herrera, Matic, Young; Mkhitaryan, Martial; Lukaku or 4-4-1-1 - De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Darmian; Young, Herrera, Matic, Martial; Mkhitaryan; Lukaku.
Eric Bailly sustained an injury while on international duty, and Marcus Rashford picked up a knock with England. #MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 14, 2017
Louis van Gaal and Xabi Alonso are there
And Liverpool's greatest central midfielder of the 2000s is at Anfield:
Souness speaks
Two fabulous football clubs - more than football clubs they are institutions. This is the game that ruins people's weekends, their next few weeks, this is the game we were all most up for. No one could argue that this is not the biggest fixture in the Premier League.
A word from our sponsors
For those of you watching in Technicolor, this one's in black and white
Liverpool Mignolet; Gomez, Matip, Lovren, Moreno; Wijnaldum, Henderson, Can; Salah, Firmino, Coutinho. Substitutes Karius, Milner, Sturridge, Klavan, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Solanke, Alexander-Arnold.
Man Utd De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Darmian; Ander Herrera, Matic; Young, Mkhitaryan, Martial; Lukaku. Substitutes Romero, Lindelof, Mata, Lingard, Blind, Rashford, Tuanzebe.
Referee Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)
Team news
�� Confirmed #LFC team and subs to face @ManUtd... pic.twitter.com/iW4Wpo6TQB
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 14, 2017
Today's #MUFC line-up for #LIVMUN... ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/zR4rbRJoUV
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 14, 2017
No surprises in Liverpool's line-up but a couple in United's - Eric Bailly's out, Ashley Young starts as well as Matteo Darmian and Anthony Martial gets in ahead of Marcus Rashford. Juan Mata, who has started the last three PL games, is on the bench.
Good morning
The 30 miles between Old Trafford and Anfield is roughly the same distance dividing Bellshill in North Lanarkshire and Glenbuck in East Ayrshire, the two mining communities that bred Sir Matt Busby and Bill Shankly, who used the values and vigour they learnt there to found the modern Manchester United and Liverpool and transfuse those two clubs with their electric charisma and integrity.
In April 1942 they were closer still, the Royal Air Force’s Shankly at right half and Busby of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) at left half for Scotland’s 5-4 victory over England at Wembley.
They remained close for the rest of Shankly’s life, praising each other, helping each other and speaking regularly. Busby even used to slip a shot of whisky into Shankly’s pre-match tea on biting days at Old Trafford, fuelling his normally teetotal friend’s battle fever with yet more ardour. Together they held the line on players’ salaries, treated their places of work as personal fiefdoms but never lost their respect for each other’s achievements or clubs.
“Matt Busby is without doubt the greatest manager that ever lived,” Shankly said. “I’m not saying I think he is the greatest manager. Facts can prove that.” Busby, a former Liverpool captain, was the man who recommended Shankly to the general manager at his old club and even talked his old friend round when he was unable to win an early boardroom dispute at Anfield and had decided to quit.
For the years from 1963 to 1967 Liverpool and Manchester United traded titles, the beautiful and ornate old silver trophy moving east and west along the A580 each May for four seasons.
Rivalry was keen, of course, but never poisonous. In August 1965 The Telegraph’s RH Williams could lament the presence of several “raucous Kopites” in the ‘World Cup stand’ at Old Trafford for the Charity Shield the two clubs ultimately shared but only loftily to bemoan “there is no peace anywhere” from their singing and high spirits not the violence their presence there in subsequent decades would incite.
In 1958 after Munich Liverpool quickly offered to loan Manchester United players and in 1989 after Hillsborough Alex Ferguson was one of the first to telephone Kenny Dalglish in sympathy and support. But simple human decency and compassion was not solely drawn out by tragedy: in 1968 the Liverpool Echo generously congratulated Manchester United for winning the European Cup. “British football can be proud of the United team,” it wrote.
Such a sentiment expressed 50 years later would drown the newspaper’s editor in a cesspool of Twitter vitriol. But even as late as 1977 when there had been punch-ups in Trafalgar Square and on Wembley Way, some Manchester United fans after Tommy Docherty’s side had nixed Liverpool’s chances of the Treble waved the opposition’s players through the tunnel to make their way to Rome for the European Cup final with, Docherty remembers, consoling and encouraging cries of “Good luck, Liverpool!” to the tune of Nice One, Cyril!
It is important to remind ourselves that for all the fighting, the vile banners and chants glorying in tormenting bereavement, citing ‘Facts’ and Freud, the racist abuse of Patrice Evra by Luis Suarez and the campaign to explain it away, the notion of “a perch” and talk of babies speaking more sense than Ferguson, the “my club right or wrong” posturing, both that it is not all or even a majority of fans whose decency is so warped by hatred nor that it has been or is always like this.
Examinations of the civic conflict between the two cities – think of those portentous pre-match scene-setters that trumpet guff like “Lancaster: A house divided” with a red rose cleaved in two the middle and much chin-stroking about the effects of the Manchester Ship Canal on the two cities’ prosperity – are all very well but it still has more to do with a battle for supremacy on the field than cultural and economic divisions.
Neither city, of course, is short of proselytisers who define its greatness by contrast to the other and they have undoubtedly stoked the fire, the kind of people who like to brandish virtues as weapons. But what has driven this hostility for much of the past half century is success for one and long, unaccustomed droughts for the other.
In the 26 years Manchester United endured without winning the title and the 27 years Liverpool are currently suffering, it has been the taunting of failure by one of the other that turned the rivalry sour.
We can find the heinous things people have said or daubed on banners to pinpoint precisely the origins of its debasement. More significant, though, is the potency of one club thriving while the other founders, one mocking while the other bellows its claims for greater authenticity whether they be stature, romance, pioneering achievements, bigger crowds, more trophies, fewer glory-seekers or greater spells of European dominance.
All the vile stuff, that turns treasurable needle toxic, comes from that and its strident presence will be inescapable here. It is now probably inextinguishable but we should always remember those two colliers whose warmth and respect originally set a more harmonious tone.
Preview
What is it?
Arguably the biggest game of the year. It's Liverpool vs Manchester United at Anfield.
When is it?
It is today, so Saturday, October 14.
What time is kick-off?
It's the early game, so a 12.30pm start.
What TV channel is it on?
Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League from 11.30am.
What does the Premier League table look like?
What is the team news?
Liverpool
Sadio Mane is out for six weeks with a hamstring injury sustained during the international break while Dejan Lovren continues to struggle with injury and remains a doubt. Ragnar Klavan is on standby to step in and partner Joel Matip at the back.
Adam Lallana, Adam Bogan and Nathaniel Clyne are all still injured. Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold are in competition to start at right-back with Clyne sidelined.
Man Utd
Marouane Fellaini picked up a knee injury during the international break with Belgium and will be sidelined for three weeks.
Paul Pogba is still out with a hamstring injury and Michael Carrick is a doubt, leaving Jose Mourinho short of midfield options.
What are they saying?
Man Utd manager Jose Mourinho...
"These kind of matches, every single moment plays a part. We are playing against a good team with very good players. Form doesn't matter, the moment doesn't matter. It's a match of three points.
"Do I like to go to Anfield? Yes, I love it. Do I like to play against Liverpool? Yes. I like amazing stadiums, the best opponents but the preparation is not different."
Former Man Utd player Gary Neville...
"Anfield away is the ultimate test, mentally and physically with the intensity.
"There's obviously less home grown talent but the atmosphere will be brilliant and it is a game which you dare not lose as a player."
What are the odds?
Liverpool to win 7/4
Draw 9/5
Man Utd to win 8/5
Get the best Liverpool v Manchester United betting offers >>
What's our prediction?
It is a bit early for a defining weekend in the title race, but for Liverpool this already looks like a must-win, or at the very least, a 'dare not lose' meeting with Manchester United. A 10-point gap would look ominous with Liverpool needing to retrieve ground having sloppily dropped points with their catalogue of draws. Jose Mourinho will scent blood, but a draw would be a good return for the visitors.
Chris Bascombe's prediction: Liverpool 0 Manchester United 0
