Champions Liverpool will today host Premier League leaders Manchester United at Anfield in what is the biggest fixture this weekend.
The two most successful clubs in the history of English football currently occupy the top two positions in the table, separated by only three points heading into this mouth-watering Merseyside meeting.
In 232 games between the clubs since 1894, United have come out on top 88 times, whereas Liverpool have won 77. Some 67 matches have ended with honours even. In the last 10 meetings, there have been six draws
It is the first time Man United have been top after as many as 17 games of a season since Sir Alex Ferguson led them to their 20th title in 2012-13, a tally Liverpool moved back to within one of with their triumph last season.
Away from home Man United have not lost in the league since that last trip to Anfield almost exactly a year ago – a run of 15 games which includes 12 victories, 11 of which have come in their last 12 such matches.
Another win at Anfield would already equal last season’s tally of eight away league triumphs and would also be just the second time in United’s illustrious history that they have managed to win eight or more of their opening nine away league games of a campaign.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have picked up two points from their last three games and could go four without a victory for the first time since February 2017, having been held by West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United before losing at Southampton last time out.
Remarkably, Liverpool have never lost back-to-back league games under Klopp, last doing so in September 2015 under Brendan Rodgers when the second match in that run was a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Man United.
Klopp himself has not overseen successive league defeats since April 2015, during his time in charge of Borussia Dortmund with Liverpool now 67 home games unbeaten in the Premier League, winning 55 of those – and 32 of their last 34 – in a run which stretches back to April 2017.
Man United, by contrast, have not won any of their four meetings with the ‘big six’ this season and have failed to even score from open play in those games, their only goal coming from a Bruno Fernandes penalty.
