United are never the UNDERDOGS!
1 United are the only team to have taken points off Liverpool in the PL in the last 30 games since March 2019
MANCHESTER United will not suffer an inferiority complex against Liverpool today despite an unprecedented 27- point gap between the teams.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side remain the only team Liverpool have not beaten in the Premier League this season and go to Anfield after consecutive clean sheets for the first time since September. A third this afternoon would represent their best defensive run since last January.
Winger Daniel James, 22, is leading the fighting talk. ‘I don’t think we go into any game feeling like underdogs,’ says Old Trafford’s new artful dodger. ‘ It’s always been like that and something I learned from day one here. We are United. ‘ It is going to be tough but we go into it feeling positive. We are t he only team to have taken points off them already and we’ll go full of high hopes. ‘It will be a case of doing what we did last time. We were unlucky to only get a draw with them scoring a late equaliser. We will go there with no fear.’ The supersonic James symbolises the rebuild at United under Solskjaer. A year ago, he was on the verge of joining Leeds United from Swansea before the deal collapsed unexpectedly.
Now he is ready for his first taste of Anfield, carrying extra responsibility if Marcus Rashford misses out with a back injury.
Ryan Giggs tipped off United about his ability and James has followed the advice Wales’s manager gave him . ‘He texted me to say “Just be yourself”,’ reveals James. ‘ It’s been a crazy 12 months. I think about it every day. At the start of last season, I hadn’t even played a league game for Swansea.’
Liverpool v United is the biggest fixture in English football but there has never been a bigger points difference between the clubs ahead of one of their meetings in the Premier League era.
However, it needed an 85th- minute equaliser from Adam Lallana for Liverpool to salvage a point at Old Trafford in October and Solskjaer is convinced his team are i n better shape now, with £ 80million Harry Maguire appointed captain on Friday to signal a new era.
‘Last time we played them, we were only a point off the bottom three and under pressure from everywhere,’ James said. ‘The players must have felt that, even though they handled the game fantastically.
‘We are more confident, definitely. It is always the foundation of any team to defend well. We spent the majority of our money in the last transfer window on Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Maguire because we needed to defend better but also control and dominate.
‘Harry has such an authority and he is confident on the ball. We need to be better on the ball than we were last time against Liverpool. You need courage to play there.’
Liverpool are unbeaten in 38 Premier League games and on course to break the all-time points record set by Manchester City.
If they achieve that, there will be talk of Jurgen Klopp’s side bettering United’s Treble team of 1999 as the best in modern times. Solskjaer feels it is too early for comparisons. ‘We showed our squad could cope with three tournaments and it was an amazing season, an amazing group. Liverpool can win all three so I am not going to say no or yes – let’s see in May.
‘Jurgen has done a great job. When you send out a team and know what you’re going to get more or less every time, it makes him one of the better managers around, for sure.’