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| The strikers go head to head... Image: independent.co.uk |
With Daniel Sturridge scoring on his debut for Liverpool and Luis Suarez in excellent form it certainly feels as though the Reds are capable of scoring, the thing that worries me is can we hold on to a lead if we manage to find one?
For Liverpool there are no new injury worries but with the news about Jose Enrique recently there has been a shuffle in defence with Glen Johnson switching sides and Andre Wisdom most likely taking the right back position for this one. I like Wisdom a lot but I get the feeling he's going to have a tough time against United.
The Red Devils are minus their scouse talisman Wayne Rooney but it won't worry them too much what with Van Persie and Hernandez both fully available. United also received positives this week with Nani and Anderson getting back to full fitness.
This is a massive game for Liverpool one that never really needs an introduction but the bragging rights are even bigger this year because the Reds are yet to beat a side above them in the table, quite a sobering stat I'm sure you'll agree.
It's an important section of the season for the Reds who face Arsenal away after Norwich at home followed by Manchester City away. There's a lot riding on it for United too though who will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the table.
United haven't lost in their last 5 meetings in all comps whilst Liverpool have lost twice at the hands of Stoke and Aston Villa.
The last time the two sides met was in September when Steven Gerrard opened the scoring, Jonjo Shelvey was given his marching orders beforehand and Liverpool eventually let two goals in and lost the game.
We haven't won at Old Trafford since that famous and frankly brilliant 4-1 victory in 2009 despite this Liverpool have still managed to find the back of the net away from home in this tie in 3 out of the last 4 occasions.
Stat Sandwich
- Liverpool have had 412 shots at goal so far this season.
- United have come back from a losing position more times than any other team this season.
- Liverpool V Everton is the only other game to have more red cards than this fixture.
As always I'm mega excited for this game and until recently, unfortunately my confidence in our performances had gone, however we seem to have hit a bit of a positive patch and without getting ahead of myself I seriously think we could get a result from Old Trafford on Sunday.
If Suarez plays like he has been doing then the newly fit Vidic is going to struggle to deal with him, Suarez is exactly the man to find a weakness if it's there and then pick at it and I certainly fancy him to grab a goal on Sunday. As I mentioned at the start of the post though my problems lie with our ability to hold on to a lead, these games always have controversy and I can just see us going ahead and then United getting a penalty or something, they always seem to need an extra push to get back into the game against us just lately and they may be top of the league but they are vulnerable.
Robin Van Persie scares me though, give him even half a chance and we'll be dead in the water. Perhaps optimistically I will punt for a 1-1 draw tomorrow but my cheeky punt is definitely going on a 2-1 Suarez scorecast!
Enjoy the match folks! Game on!
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P.s. If you fancy winning a Gerrard T-Shirt head over to the blog's Facebook page and "like" the post, one lucky winner will be drawn at random on Sunday after the United game!