Preview: Manchester United vs Liverpool – Team news, line-ups & prediction

We have a huge Premier League clash to look forward to on Thursday night as Manchester United welcome Liverpool to Old Trafford. United have little left to play for in the league, but that’s not the case for Liverpool as they chase European qualification. Given the rivalry between these two clubs, it’s sure to be an exciting game.

Manchester United: Europa League final the focus

Manchester United are second in the Premier League table and are likely to finish in that position as they sit four points clear of Leicester – who have just two games remaining. Leicester won 2-1 at Old Trafford on Tuesday night but Man Utd need to win just one of their three remaining games to secure second spot.

United have an excellent recent record in this fixture as they are unbeaten at Old Trafford against Liverpool since 2014 so they’ll be looking to maintain that run tomorrow night. However, with second place virtually in the bag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be forgiven if his main focus is on the upcoming Europa League final. United booked their place in the final thanks to a 8-5 aggregate win over Roma and they’ll now face Villarreal in the final after they beat Arsenal in the last-4.

The Red Devils have been handed a gruelling fixture list and Solskjaer is set to rotate his squad heavily tomorrow after making 10 changes for the defeat to Leicester with many key men rested for the Liverpool game.

Probable Man Utd line-up

Henderson – Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Lindelof, Shaw – Fred, McTominay – Rashford, Fernandes, Pogba – Cavani

Injured players

Phil Jones, Anthony Martial, Harry Maguire

Liverpool: CL qualification almost out of sight

Liverpool head to Old Trafford knowing they can’t afford to drop anymore points if they want to be playing top tier European football next year. Jürgen Klopp’s side are currently in sixth position in the table – seven points behind Chelsea with a game in hand. Therefore, they need a positive result against United to keep alive their hopes of playing Champions League football next season.

However, Liverpool go into tomorrow night’s game off the back of a poor campaign that’s seen them drop down the table following a disastrous run of results in recent months. After being held to 1-1 draws by Leeds and Newcastle, Liverpool did manage to get back to winning ways with victory over Southampton last weekend so Klopp will hope that’s given his players some confidence. The Reds have suffered injuries at the back this season but a lack of ruthlessness in attack has also been a major problem. In 2021, Liverpool have managed to score just 17 goals from 267 shots on target, so this is something Klopp needs to address quickly.

Probable Liverpool line-up

Alisson – Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Kabak, Robertson – Thiago, Wijnaldum, Milner – Salah, Firmino, Mané

Injured players

Jordan Henderson, Ben Davies, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Caoimhin Kelleher, Virgil van Dijk, Divock Origi

Betting tip & prediction: Manchester United +0.25

It is difficult to predict what we can expect from Manchester United. Obviously, the Europa League is the priority for them but the Red Devils won’t want to lose to their north-west rivals. Moreover, Liverpool have also been disappointing this season so United are the favourites to win this game. I will go for Manchester United +0.25 @ 1.76 (William Hill, medium).