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#3 Liverpool are the more well-rounded side compared to Manchester United
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems to be well aware of the progress that his side has made and how good they are. He has acknowledged the fact that despite being league leaders, if they beat Liverpool at Anfield, it will be a 'shock' or an 'upset'.
The Manchester United manager said:
“If you look at the last few seasons I think it would be an upset and it would be a shock. Our position at the moment is a product of all the hard work we've done in the training ground and what the players are putting down every single day and we probably deserve to be where we're at at the moment.
“I don’t think many would have thought anything but an upset if we went six weeks back and beat Liverpool at Anfield. We’re looking forward to the game and hoping we can cause that upset.”
Ole's side is a bit reliant on individual brilliance and their good run of form has an awful lot to do with the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford. When the two of them are not performing well, the team seems to struggle.
Even though Liverpool are shortstaffed at the back owing to injuries, they are still a well-rounded unit and possess the best attacking trio in the league. Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka will have their hands full dealing with the full-backs, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, in addition to Mohamed Salah and Mane.
Thiago will be pulling the strings from midfield alongside Wijnaldum and as you can see, Liverpool have a lot of quality all across midfield and attack and if they can all show up and do their jobs, this match is theirs for the taking.
#2 Manchester United's error-prone defence could cost them once again
Though Eric Bailly has garnered a lot of praise for his heroics in recent weeks, even he has committed two errors that led to shots out of which one resulted in a goal against Tottenham Hotspur. Bailly is arguably Manchester United's best centre-back.
Harry Maguire's tackling has been quite suspect but the Englishman seems to have struck up a good partnership with Bailly. As a result, Solskjaer is likely to stick with the Maguire-Bailly duo in defence. On Sunday against Liverpool at Anfield, there will hardly be any room for error though.
Liverpool's attackers latch onto stray balls and half chances pretty well and punish defenders for their mistakes which is one of the reasons why they have been so successful in the recent past.
#1 Liverpool's mobile midfield has the edge over Manchester United
Nemanja Matic is a doubt for tomorrow's game and Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer faces a selection dilemma eitherway. He has often chosen a midfield of Fred and Scott McTominay against mobile midfield units but that would mean that he'd have to sacrifice an attacker.
With Anthony Martial also a doubt for the game, Manchester United are likely to go with the double pivot of Fred and McTominay with Bruno Fernandes playing in the no. 10 role. Paul Pogba is likely to be deployed further forward down the left side as he was against Burnley with Rashford and Cavani playing uptop.
Liverpool's midfield is more well-balanced and even if Fabinho is forced to cover at centre-back, they'll still have Henderson, Wijnaldum and Thiago in midfield.
Bruno Fernandes loves foraying forward and though he doesn't shy away from tracking back, Liverpool's all-action midfield looks well equipped to penetrate the extra cover of protection to the backline thanks to their experienced personnel.
