please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Hello and welcome to the official match thread for Sunday’s Barclays Premier League encounter between Manchester United & Liverpool. The game is scheduled to take place at Old Trafford on Sunday 13th January 2013 with a kick-off time of 1.30PM. Sky Sports One will be showing the game (Build-up begins at 1PM) & talkSPORT have the radio rights to the game. Preview. Manchester United host Liverpool on Sunday in what still is a massive game for both sides and one of the biggest games of the Premier League season. Both sides go into Sunday’s encounter on the back of some good recent form in the league. Manchester United go into the game on the back of three straight wins in the league whilst Liverpool go into the game on the back of consecutive Premier League victories. Manchester United & Liverpool were both last in action last weekend in the third round of the F.A Cup. Manchester United travelled to West Ham United on Saturday evening whilst Liverpool travelled to Mansfield Town on Sunday afternoon. United took the lead in East London through Tom Cleverly but a brace from West Ham defender James Collins (Both assisted by ex-Liverpool midfielder Joe Cole) gave West Ham the lead and they were on course for qualification into the fourth round before United salvaged a replay in the final minutes. We all know that United can do that and last Saturday was no exception. The man of the moment for United, Robin van Persie, latched onto a lovely ball by Ryan Giggs and showed his excellent finishing abilities by calmly slotting the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen and securing United a potential place in the fourth round. Liverpool, on the other hand, were given a potential banana skin as they were paired up against Conference side Mansfield Town. The Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers opted for a mix of younger players and more experienced players in the hope that they can do the job and keep their place in this season’s F.A Cup. Liverpool got off to the perfect start after just 7 minutes. Daniel Sturridge, making his first start since signing for Liverpool from Chelsea, was played through by Jonjo Shelvey and slotted the ball into the net to give Liverpool the lead. Liverpool weren’t able to extend that lead before half-time and in the second half, Mansfield started to apply the pressure. The big turning point was in the 59th minute when Luis Suarez scored a rather controversial goal… The striker was able to get onto a pass from Stewart Downing and whilst charging towards the six-yard box, the ball bounced off the Mansfield ‘keeper, Alan Marriott, and hit the striker’s hand. There were arguments from both sides with some saying that the ball bounced onto Suarez’s hand and others saying the striker moved his hand towards the ball. At the end of day, the referee and his assistants missed it or deemed it unintentional and the goal stood. Mansfield were able to pull one back through their top scorer, Matt Green, which set up an interesting finish. In the end, it finished with a Liverpool victory and that secured an away tie in the fourth round against League One opposition in Oldham Athletic. The two sides have already met this season with United & Liverpool facing each other in late September at Anfield. The game was once again a hard-fought encounter with United coming out on top. Liverpool took the lead through Steven Gerrard a minute after the second half began but were unable to keep the lead for a period of time. This may have been due to the numerical disadvantage Liverpool had after Jonjo Shelvey was sent off in the 38th minute. It took Manchester United just 5 minutes to respond with Rafael levelling the scores. United then won a penalty in the 80th minute and it was put away by van Persie to give United the lead and they held out to make sure that the three points went back to Anfield. In Sunday’s game, United’s key threat will come from Robin van Persie. The striker has been an excellent signing for United and has shown why Sir Alex Ferguson sent £24M on the Dutch international. He has 20 goals in 26 games so far for United and has been one of the main reasons why Manchester United currently sit seven points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League. He has 16 goals from 21 games in the league which puts him as the top scorer in the Barclays Premier League. His influence on the Manchester United team cannot be underestimated and he will be the main attacking threat for United tomorrow. As I have already mentioned, he has scored against Liverpool already this season as he was the man who slotted home the penalty in the reserve fixture which gave United a 2-1 lead and the three points. With Wayne Rooney expected to miss the game through a knee injury, he is expected to start upfront and could be partnered with Javier Hernandez in those attacking positions. Hernandez has 12 goals this season so van Persie & Hernandez have 32 goals so far this season! An impressive record and those two players seem very likely to cause the Liverpool defence some serious problems. Liverpool’s key player will be Luis Suarez. The striker is second in the Premier League goalscoring list (Behind Robin van Persie) with 15 goals from 20 games. The Uruguayan international has 19 goals in all competitions so far this season and this record has meant that Suarez has a 1 in 2 goalscoring record throughout his Liverpool career so far. (40 goals in 80 games) Liverpool were very short in attacking options in the first half of the season and Suarez was starting burden has been eased somewhat with the signing of Daniel Sturridge and the return of Fabio Borini who is expected to be fit by the end of the month. Despite the burden being lifted, Suarez is still vital to Liverpool and a good performance from him could see Liverpool pick up a positive result. He is expected to start in the central attacking position with Raheem Sterling on one side and one of Stewart Downing, Suso or Daniel Sturridge on the other side. Rodgers has spoken well of his new signing, Daniel Sturridge, but he has also said that he believes Sturridge isn’t 100% match fit so he could start on the bench and be brought on later in the game so that Liverpool can utilise his pace to a positive effect. So, another massive game to look forward to! Can Manchester United complete the league double over Liverpool for the first time since the 2007/2008 season? Or will Liverpool win at Old Trafford for only the second time in nine attempts? Or will it be a bore 0-0?! You’ll find out the answers to these questions, and more, on the official match thread on the Not606 Liverpool board! Do join in. (That includes the guests that read this thread. Sign up and get involved!) Injury News. Manchester United. Wayne Rooney: Knee Injury. Liverpool. Martin Kelly: ACL Knee Injury. Jose Enrique: Hamstring Injury. Suspension News. Manchester United. No suspensions currently recorded. Liverpool. No suspensions currently recorded. Manchester United 2 - 1 Liverpool Goalscorers: Manchester United... Robin van Persie: 19th minute. Manchester United... Nemanja Vidic: 54th minute. Liverpool... Daniel Sturridge: 57th minute. Manchester United: De Gea - Rafael Smalling Ferdinand Evra - Valencia Carrick Jones Cleverly Welbeck - van Persie SUBS: Amos Jones Smalling Anderson Young Giggs Hernandez - Manchester United Substitution: Ashley Young comes off to be replaced by Antonio Valencia. (45th minute) Manchester United Substitution: Shinji Kagawa comes off to be replaced by Phil Jones. (77th minute) Manchester United Substitution: Nemanja Vidic comes off to be replaced by Chris Smalling. (79th minute) - Liverpool: Reina - Wisdom Skrtel Agger Johnson - Henderson Gerrard - Borini Suarez Downing - Sturridge SUBS: Jones Carragher Robinson Lucas Allen Shelvey Sterling - Liverpool Substitution: Lucas Leiva comes off to be replaced by Daniel Sturridge. (45th minute) Liverpool Substitution: Raheem Sterling comes off to be replaced by Fabio Borini. (62nd minute) Liverpool Substitution: Joe Allen comes off to be replaced by Jordan Henderson. (80th minute) - YNWA.
Nice one Chris - Great thread as usual sir. Can't wait for this one. I honestly see us winning, just a strong gut feeling. 1-2 RVP. Suarez x2
Any idea if Sturridge is due to start. Anyone heard anything on the grapevine? I'm guessing he will, but not sure.....???
Not sure what kind of team to expect for this. I'm doubting the team in the bib thread will be it. It doesnt seem logical. But I think these ones are guarenteed. -------------------Reina------------------- ---Wisdom---Skrtel---Agger---Johnson--- --------------Lucas---Gerrard------------- ------------------??????------------------ ?????????????????????????????????????? Suarez will obviously start. I also expect Sterling to. But where will they start? Will Sturridge or Downing start? Henderson or Allen?
I'll always back us but i'm not confident ever - especially at their place. I'll remain positive and say 1-2 Liverpool but if we let Scholes hold the ball and dictate we're ****ed. Happened last year.
If we have a go at them we will create chances, wether we will score any of those chances is another matter but you would think we need to score at least two to get any sort of result.
Although we'll probably lose.. We can beat any team on our day, let's just hope it is OUR day. I think we're due a result against one of the bigger teams this season
I hope it will be a good game against you scousers, i will not wish you luck though, as if it comes to that i hope it`s our way. Bring it on................ edit. Well done Chris on your match thread.
Think we will just lose out in this game. Should be a good one though, looking forward to it. For me this is still the biggest game in the Prem!
