Liverpool to inflict another thrashing on Man Utd
Old, great rivals Liverpool and Manchester United meet on Tuesday evening in the Premier League with very different objectives ahead of the game. The hosts, who could still win an unprecedented quadruple, need to win to leapfrog Manchester City in the title race, at least temporarily. The visitors, on the other hand, require the three points to make their chances of finishing fourth that little bit more likely. Read our preview here:
Matip of the tongue
Jürgen Klopp's side produced some of their best football under his management to race into a three-goal lead over City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley last weekend. Though their opponents did come back into the game, they couldn't quite achieve parity. Elite individual performances were conjured up by several of the starting XI, including Thiago on the left of the midfield three. He is precisely the sort of player the Red Devils lack, and he will be backed up by the returning Joel Matip in defence. The Cameroonian international has been just as important this term as Virgil van Dijk in their successes to date.
Rash-ly brought in
The tragic loss of one of Cristiano Ronaldo's newborn twins is almost certain to precipitate his absence, and replacements are thin on the ground. Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood remain out of contention for very, very different reasons, so Ralf Rangnick could turn to Marcus Rashford in the hopes of a revival of his on-pitch fortunes. Elsewhere, first choice pivot pairing Fred and Scott McTominay are also unavailable, which could mean an imbalanced trio of Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, and Nemanja Matić. The latter is set to leave in the close season, but has been poor in a red shirt for quite some time.
Betting tip
Even without Ronaldo, Man Utd could hurt Liverpool's own less than watertight backline, but the sheer number of high-performing players in the hosts' ranks dwarves Rangnick's own. betway have odds of 3.60 for over 4.5 goals in this fixture once again.
