PREVIEW: Manchester United v Liverpool, Sunday January 13th 1.30pm

Posted by Phil M on January 7, 2013, 02:54:22 pm

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Referee: Howard Webb
Righto chaps,  :) off we head up the M62 on Sunday afternoon for a game of association football versus one of our old foes.

League positions don’t lie unfortunately and the fact that we’re 21 points behind our rivals means we head into this vital game with hopes of overtaking West Bromwich Albion for 7th spot – results dependent of course. Our opponents have won a daunting 17 of their 21 league outings to date and have opened up a seven point gap at the top of the table whereas we're seeking our ninth win of the season.

It’s a time of change at Anfield but Ferguson’s men are on a charge towards No. 20 and it’s up to Brendan Rodgers and his men to give the chasing pack a helping hand in seeking what could be our fourth away victory of the season.
Form wise we’re in very good shape having won four of our last five games.

In fact our last 5 makes for very pleasant reading: P5 W4 D0 L1 F12 A2.
Our counterparts haven’t fared too badly either, their last 5 reading P5 W3 D2 L0 F13 A6.

So how do we stop Van Persie  (16 goals from 21 games) ?
And how will they stop Luis Suarez (15 goals from 20 games) wreaking havoc?

Our boss won’t have fond memories having been in charge of Swansea when they lost 2-0 there in May when two first half goals proved too much. However I’m sure he will feel much more confident looking around the team bus on Sunday when amongst his collection of warriors are players who have done the business against United home and away in the past, messrs Reina, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson, Lucas, Gerrard etc.

Luis Suarez is sure to be excited about the prospect of facing his old chum Patrice, no doubt a talking point for our friends over at Sky Sports studios but we may also have a hidden ace in our pack in the form of our exciting new signing, Daniel Sturridge who’s already off the mark.

Some stats to digest:

They’ve scored at least once in every home game this season and are unbeaten in their last 9.
We’ve scored at least once in our last eight games.
Luis Suarez has scored 8 of his 15 goals away from home. Robin Van Persie has scored 7 of his 16 at home.
Our last away win was the remarkable 1-4 win under Rafael Benitez in March 2009.

The three subsequent United v Liverpool fixtures have been decided by a single goal:

23.09.2012 Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United

11.02.2012 Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool

15.10.2011 Liverpool 1-1 Manchester United

06.03.2011 Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United

19.09.2010 Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool

21.03.2010 Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool

25.10.2009 Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United

14.03.2009 Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool

           

Some snippets to warm the cockles from the BBC report of our meeting in September when Mr. Halsey decided that Jonjo deserved sending off whilst Jonny (Scholesy) Evans went unpunished and that Antonio Valencia’s fall in front of the Anny Road deserved a peno.  :(

“When the action did start Liverpool exerted complete control of the first half but could not find the finishing touch to compliment their fine approach work. Gerrard was closest with a shot narrowly off target at the near post as United struggled to find any fluency.”

“Liverpool were reduced to 10 men when Jonjo Shelvey was sent off for a first-half foul on United defender Jonny Evans - but it did not stop captain Steven Gerrard volleying them ahead seconds after the interval. United, barely in the game for long periods, responded with a spectacular equaliser from Rafael Da Silva….”

To summarise, come on you mighty Redmen!

Over to you good people…

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