Easy win for Liverpool in the Northwest Derby?
Liverpool vs Man United – The Northwest Derby
The Christmas season may be over, but football fans are about to be treated to a Happy New Year when Liverpool welcome Manchester United for the Northwest Derby this weekend. The two famous reds of England could not be in more contrasting form at the moment, with Arne Slot leading Liverpool on a title charge while Ruben Amorim can’t seem to get a tune out of his struggling Red Devils.
On paper, everything seems to point not only towards a Liverpool win, but an embarrassing one at that – but football matches aren’t played on paper. As we have seen so often over the years, form tends to go out the window when two bitter rivals come to town. But what makes the Liverpool – Manchester United derby so special? Let’s delve into the history, as well as some team news and predictions for the big day!
Liverpool vs Man United
The Northwest Derby is by no means a race for the league title this season – let’s be honest. Liverpool are at least six points clear at the summit of the table with no worthy challenger in sight (for now), while Man Utd are down in 14th and looking more likely for a relegation scrap than a title charge. Arne Slot has recorded 14 wins in his first 18 games as Liverpool boss, putting them on 45 points. The Red Devils, on the other hand, won just six of their opening 18 league games this season, putting them on 22 points with minus five goal difference. While the likes of Mo Salah and Luis Diaz are thriving in attack on Merseyside, the likes of Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho have been cast aside by Amorim in Manchester.
The History of Liverpool vs Man United – The Northwest Derby
Some rivalries are born out of geographical proximity while others stem from a proximity in the league table – the Northwest Derby is actually a bit of both. Manchester United and Liverpool are England’s two most successful clubs and have locked horns at the very top of the game for the past 100 years. This sense of competition and bitter rivalry has been passed down from generation to generation, and remains to this day despite the current disparity between the two squads on the pitch.
In the history of the English Football League, only two teams can better Arsenal’s record of 13 titles – Man United and Liverpool. The Red Devils celebrated their iconic 20th win back in 2013 but have drifted into ‘sleeping giant’ status ever since. Liverpool, meanwhile, are just one behind their bitter rivals on 19 and seem primed to draw level come the end of the 2024/25 campaign. The scripts are flipped somewhat if you just take a look at the history of the PL, which started in 1992. Since then, Man United have won 13 titles to Liverpool’s solitary one. The two clubs are closely matched in overall trophies too, once you take domestic cups and European silverware into account. This time, it is Liverpool who are ahead of the game with 69 total trophies, compared to Manchester United’s 68. That means Arne Slot could lead his side to the landmark number 70 in the next six months.
But when did the Liverpool – Manchester United rivalry first begin? To answer that, we have to go all the way back to the 18th century. There is a reason the Northwest Derby is held in even greater esteem than the Merseyside and Manchester derbies, after all.
Although Liverpool and Manchester United are not located in the same city, they are fierce inter-city rivals, just 35 miles apart from one another. Before the rivalry between the two clubs on the pitch, there has always been a sense of competition between the two North West cities as a whole. This stems from both economic and industrial beginnings. In the 18th century, Manchester was seen as the hub of the North of England, being the most populous city in that part of the country. However, throughout the 1700s, Liverpool grew in prominence as a major seaport and eventually overtook Manchester in the 19th and early 20th centuries. While Manchester had once been the core representative of the North, Liverpool was now suddenly viewed as the ‘second city’ of the British Empire behind London. Over the next 100 years, the decline of industrial England saw both Manchester and Liverpool undergo periods of economic instability, all amidst the ever-shifting politics in England. In the 1900s, this rivalry spilt out onto the football pitch.
Manchester United (then named Newton Heath) were formed in 1878, just 14 years before Liverpool emerged. The clubs first met for a competitive match in 1894 when Liverpool came out 2-0 winners, but the clubs have met another 215 times since then. Ever since then, the two northwestern giants have traded punches, both face-to-face and in the pursuit of silverware. In the 1963/64 season, Liverpool won their sixth English League title, followed by Man United winning their sixth in 1965, then Liverpool with their seventh in 1966, and Man United close behind again in 1967. Liverpool were the dominant force in English football throughout the 1970s and 80s, winning 11 titles in 20 seasons. However, come the turn of the decade, Man United marched towards the new millennium with increased appetite. The arrival of Sir Alex Ferguson saw the Red Devils lift 13 league titles between 1992 and 2013.
Since that last Man United title win, only one PL trophy has gone to either side of the Northwest Derby – Liverpool in 2020. The rise of Manchester City, two Chelsea wins, and a Leicester City shock has kept the Man Utd – Liverpool rivalry at bay for the best part of a decade. However, Arne Slot seems to be leading his side back to the forefront of the argument.
The Venue
Anfield – Sunday 5 January. Kick-off: 16:30 local time.
The iconic Anfield was built back in 1884 and has been renovated 13 times since then to keep up with the demands of modern football. Liverpool have been the main tenants of Anfield since 1892, making the 61,276-seat stadium one of the longest-serving grounds in England. Anfield has not been a happy hunting ground for Man Utd in recent times. In fact, the Red Devils have not won there since a 1-0 victory back in the 2015/16 season. The last five league meetings at Anfield have ended with three Liverpool wins and two draws. Man Utd failed to score in all five of those matches and even recorded 7-0 and 4-0 defeats.
Team News and Injury News
Let’s take a look at some of the team and injury news as we head into Liverpool vs Manchester United on Sunday:
Liverpool: Liverpool have been pretty fortunate with injuries over the past few months, but are now presented with a problem at the back heading into the Northwest Derby. Ibrahima Konate has been out with a knee injury since December and is fighting to return in time for the fixture. Joe Gomez had to withdraw from the match against West Ham with a thigh injury of his own, meaning Jarell Quansah had to fill in alongside Virgil Van Dijk. The only other injury for Arne Slot comes at right-back, with Conor Bradley out – but even he is nearing a return. In midfield, Dominik Szoboszlai returns from suspension.
Man Utd: Manchester United have Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte back from suspension for the Liverpool game. However, Mason Mount, Victor Lindelof, and Luke Shaw all remain out with injuries and have unknown return dates.
Players to Watch
We could answer this question with one simple word – Salah. The Liverpool winger is in the form of his life at the moment, with 17 goals and 13 assists so far this season. To put that into perspective, he is currently leading the table for both goals scored and assists provided. To put that into even more perspective, you could take Man Utd’s top five PL scorers so far this season and they still wouldn’t combine to match Salah’s tally. By that logic, another two players to watch in this match should be Diogo Dalot and Lisandro Martinez, both of whom will have to combine to shut Salah down for the evening – easier said than done. In attack, Bruno Fernandes is always one to keep an eye on for the Red Devils. The unfortunate truth for Ruben Amorim is that any one of Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo, Trent Alexander-Arnold and co. could also be ones to watch.
Head-to-head Record
There have been 215 total meetings between Manchester United and Liverpool since 1894. Man Utd edge the battle with 83 wins to Liverpool’s 72, with the remaining 60 ending in draws. In this time, the Red Devils have netted 289 times, with Liverpool scoring the exact same number of goals. The top scorer in the Northwest Derby is unsurprisingly Mo Salah with 15 goals, followed by Steven Gerrard on nine and Stan Pearson on eight. In the last ten PL meetings between Liverpool and Man Utd, the Red Devils have won just once. Liverpool have tasted victory six times, scoring 28 goals in the process. This is actually a very high-scoring fixture in recent times (more thanks to Liverpool than United), with 34 goals in the last ten games. That makes for 3.4 goals per game on average!
Form Guide
The form guide doesn’t look particularly good for Man Utd heading into this one. The Red Devils managed just six wins from their opening 18 games this season, compared to Liverpool’s 14 victories. That left United a whopping 23 points behind their rivals after 18 games. We are also yet to see an uptick under Ruben Amorim in Manchester, with the new boss winning just two of his first seven PL fixtures. With Man United last winning at Anfield all the way back in the 2015/16 season, the form guide certainly points towards a clear Liverpool victory.
Potential Implications
For Liverpool the implications are simple – another win is another three points closer to the league title. For Man Utd, the stakes are a little smaller. A win over their bitter rivals could kick-start some positive form under Amorim, while also denting Liverpool’s title credentials. There is also the general embarrassment of being stuck down in the bottom half of the table. Whatever the case, it is fair to say that Liverpool and Man United are fighting on very different fronts this season.
Predicted Line-Ups
Let’s take a look at how we expect Arne Slot and Ruben Amorim to line up their sides for the Northwest Derby on Sunday.
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones; Salah, Jota, Gakpo.
Man United: Onana; Mazraoui, Yoro, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot; Mainoo, Ugarte; Fernandes, Diallo; Hoijlund.
Liverpool vs Man United Odds
Betsson is currently offering a wide range of odds on Liverpool vs Man United ahead of this weekend’s Northwest derby!
Liverpool to win: 1.30
Draw: 6.20
Man United to win: 10.00
Last season, this fixture finished 0-0 and you can get odds of 27.00 for that to happen again. A Liverpool 1-0 win comes with odds of 9.80, 2-0 is 7.40, 2-1 is 8.20 and 3-0 is 8.40. On the other hand, if you fancy Man United to cause an away upset, a 1-0 win to the Red Devils comes with odds of 31.00 or 2-1 will get you 27.00.
You can browse Betsson’s full range of betting options for Liverpool vs Man United HERE.
Score Prediction
We can’t see anything apart from a Liverpool win here – and a potentially embarrassing one at that. Arne Slot’s men are simply too potent and powerful for a struggling, new-look Man United under Ruben Amorim, not to mention the fact that Mo Salah looks literally unstoppable at the moment.
Score prediction: Liverpool 4-0 Man United
PS: The odds might have changed since the writing and publication of this article.
Last Updated: 03.01.2025
