Liverpool v Manchester United: Premier League – live!

5 mins: Matip sends James scurrying into space on the right, but his low centre is cut out by Van Dijk before it can reach Martial. That looked a decent chance, but the cross was not great.

4 mins: United have started encouragingly. They win a free-kick on the right, which Pereira crosses in and Van Dijk cuts out. “Please Roy, what would you do in Ole’s place?” wonders Mary Waltz. “Your top scorer is out. Your two best midfielders, McTominay and Pogba, can’t or won’t play. Your facing the best team in the UK and Europe on their home turf where they have not lost for 51 fixtures. You parked the bus at Old Trafford and earned a tie. the best result against Liverpool this season.what other choice does Ole have?” Yeah, but hats.

1 min: United are indeed fielding a back four. Alisson scuffs a pass to Robertson, which goes straight out of play for a United throw-in.

All handshakes and preambles complete, it’s time for action. Well, nearly.

Out come the players! Not long to go now!

There weren’t exactly a lot of silly hats among the United players pre-match. I think only Martial and Shaw were hatted, and even they were wearing beanie hats, which I think is a straightforward, no-messing practical winter hat, rather than a silly one.

There was talk of United playing a back five, with Shaw a bonus additional centre-half. But a four of Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire and Shaw appears to be warming up together, so that’s probably what they’re going to do.

Here’s a snippet from Jurgen Klopp:

Our fans know that we take each game 100% serious. So we can’t be even more serious today. It’s all good. In the last game [in October] I didn’t see us there in the first half. Here today we can be a completely different animal, and that’s what we have to show. And then, it’s a football game against a strong opponent and we want to win the game.

Matt Dony is worried. Nay, terrified: “Having spent so many of my formative years watching United hoovering up trophies and swaggering to titles, they’ve got me in a kind of Stockholm Syndrome situation,” he writes. “On the one hand, the way they’ve fallen apart in the post-Fergie years is obviously enormously entertaining. But on the other hand, it just seems somehow wrong and unsettling to see them playing listless, goes-nowhere football, and flirting with mid-table mediocrity. They still have some lovely players to watch, but my word they also have some average ones. And yet, I’m terrified about this game. They’re still ‘United’. Liverpool’s run has to end sometime; I have no problem with that. But please, not against United. They still bang on about ending The Invincibles’ run. Having little else to cheer about these days, I simply can’t imagine how many ties we’ll have to hear about today should they win.”

Roy Keane, part of Sky’s team, is already angry. “I can’t say what he said off-air,” says Graeme Souness. Here’s what Keane said on air:

When I see people like Shaw coming back into the team … the nearer we’re getting to kick-off the more worried I’m getting actually. I think I was fine about two hours ago. Do you know what, I look at the players, I look at them getting warmed up, and I see their silly hats. Do you know what, it’s as if their mindset is let’s not be beaten. That negative talk already. I’m worried, I have to say.

Here are the highlights of Solskjaer’s pre-match interview with Sky:

He got a couple of knocks again and jolts when he came on against Wolverhampton. He’s aggravated his back, he’s had some trouble before, and of course we’re going to give him time to recover and rest before we put him back on the pitch. He’s always recovered quickly before, so let’s hope he does that again. I wouldn’t expect him to be back in the next few weeks. I think we’ve got a way that … we have to come to a difficult place, to play against a very good team, and we have to try to maximise the players we’ve got. I think we’ve got a chance to give them some trouble with the way we’re playing.

Burnley have indeed beaten Leicester by two goals to one goal. John Brewin has the aftermath:

Meanwhile, some news breaks about Marcus Rashford, who according to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be out “for weeks” with his back injury.

It’s looking like another bad weekend for the Liverpool-chasers: Manchester City having drawn yesterday, Leicester are currently 2-1 down at Burnley, with nine minutes (plus stoppages) remaining.

So Liverpool play their familiar first-choice XI. United, meanwhile, play both Brandon Williams and Luke Shaw, presumably as some kind of Alexander-Arnold neutralising double-left-back combo.

Team news is in, and without further ado, or really any ado at all, here it is!

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mane. Subs: Fabinho, Adrian, Minamino, Lallana, Origi, Matip, Jones.

Man Utd: De Gea, Wan Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Williams, Fred, Matic, James, Andreas Pereira, Shaw, Martial. Subs: Bailly, Jones, Mata, Lingard, Dalot, Romero, Greenwood.
Referee: Craig Pawson.

Hello world!

As you survey Liverpool’s path to the title in search of potential banana skins, there’s really not much to see between now and the trip to Manchester City in early April. After Wolves away next week (potential danger there as well, although Wolves’ home record isn’t all that great) they have a run of league games against the teams currently (in league position order, rather than chronological) 13th, 16th, 16th again, 17th, 19th and 20th. Win all of their games between now and the end of that run and they will be at the very minimum 19 points ahead with 27 available, and in need of three wins from their last nine to seal the deal.

In other words, it’s die or do now for Liverpool. Today they play the only team to have taken points off them this season, in October’s 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. If Liverpool are to win the title by a gazillion points, one thing that might make the experience very fractionally less sweet is if they have failed to beat Manchester United along the way. Today’s the day to rectify that.

Here’s some pre-match reading: