Three Liverpool weaknesses to give Man United hope in Premier League showdown | OneFootball

There arguably hasn’t been a bigger gulf in quality between these two sides in recent memory. Liverpool sit six points clear at the top of the Premier League table, having played a game less than their title rivals. Man United, meanwhile, are down in 14th.

Life under Ruben Amorim hasn’t gone according to plan since the Portuguese manager replaced Erik ten Hag. The Red Devils are just seven points clear of the relegation zone, and a whopping 23 behind Liverpool.

So no one is giving them a chance ahead of this weekend. But is there cause for Red Devils fans to be optimistic? We’ve taken a look at a few potential weaknesses.

Centre-back uncertainty

Liverpool kept a clean sheet in their final game of 2024, beating West Ham United 0-5 at the London Stadium. But it wasn’t a perfect day for their defence.

With Ibrahima Konate already out injured, Joe Gomez had to come off in the first half with a knock of his own. He’s now a doubt for Sunday alongside Konate. Jarell Quansah came on to replace Gomez and is the likely starting partner for Virgil van Dijk against Man United.

Quansah looked solid against West Ham, but the Hammers offered very little threat and Liverpool were comfortable. West Ham didn’t have a single shot on target at the London Stadium.

Earlier in December though, Quansah had come off the bench for Liverpool against Fulham and didn’t fare as well. He looked shaky after coming on and was party to blame for Rodrigo Muniz’s goal to put Fulham 1-2 up.

The 21-year-old has had 225 minutes in the Premier League this season and has averaged 3.6 clearances per 90 minutes. While he has been on the pitch, Liverpool have conceded four goals, including three in the only game he played the full 90 minutes (a 3-3 draw with Newcastle United).

Slow starts

Man United’s best chance of beating Liverpool will be if they strike early. The Reds have conceded the opening goal in four of their nine home league games this season, and each of their past two.

While Liverpool rank joint-second for points gained from losing positions in the Premier League this season, Man United’s record when going ahead is impressive. The Red Devils have dropped just four points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, with only Liverpool (2) dropping fewer.

And it’s not even that the sample size for Man United is too small. They have been ahead in eight games so far this season, winning six and drawing two.

Liverpool’s slow starts are further demonstrated if you break the Premier League into two lots of 45-minute matches. If matches ended at half-time, Liverpool wouldn’t be second in the Premier League, trailing Arsenal by one point. While that’s not much of a difference in position, Liverpool would be 11 points worse off.

The Reds would have won 10, drawn four and lost four of their 18 matches so far. If we look at second halves alone, Liverpool would be seven points clear at the top. They’d have 13 wins, four draws and one defeat, pretty close to their actual record after 18 games. So, Man United just need to make sure they’ve got a big enough half-time lead. Easy, right?

Left-back struggles

Another issue with Liverpool’s defence is the form and fitness of Andy Robertson. The Scot wasn’t afforded much rest over the festive period, with backup Kostas Tsimikas struggling with fitness. When Robertson did get some time off, it was because he was suspended after his red card against Fulham.

While Trent Alexander-Arnold goes from strength to strength, Robertson isn’t the attacking or defensive force he once was. He’s still good, but he’s a lot easier to get at than he used to be. Against West Ham, Robertson made a mistake that led to an early chance for the Hammers — and he was lucky it went unpunished.

Robertson has averaged 1.67 tackles per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season, 0.49 interceptions and 1.25 clearances completed. Then there’s the fact that he’ll be up against Amad Diallo, who was the goalscoring hero in Man United’s FA Cup win over Liverpool last season.

Since Amorim took charge, Diallo has been directly involved in five goals for Man United, averaging 0.68 per 90 minutes. He’s been devastating with his dribbling too, completing 2.58 take-ons per 90, more than any other Man United player under Amorim.

Hope for the rest

And then there’s something for Liverpool’s title rivals to hope for, if Man United do spring an upset. In mid-March last season, Liverpool were still fighting on four fronts.

They had already secured the EFL Cup, were in the FA Cup quarter-finals, Europa League quarter-finals and very much in the Premier League title race. Liverpool’s quadruple dream came to an end in the FA Cup quarter-finals, with Man United’s 4-3 win after extra-time.

And that result appeared to take a lot out of Liverpool. The Reds won just six of their final 12 games of the season, falling away in the title race and losing to Atalanta in the Europa League quarter-finals.

A 50% win rate on its own isn’t too bad. But Liverpool’s win rate in their first 45 games of the season — prior to the FA Cup tie with Man United — was an incredible 73.3%. They’d won 33 of those 45 games, only losing four times. That’s just one more defeat in 45 than they recorded among their final 12 games.

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