Jose wants United to seize the day >53
On-form United look to exploit Liverpool wobble
LONDON: Jose Mourinho’s resurgent Manchester United will attempt to reel in arch-rivals Liverpool when Juergen Klopp’s faltering side visit Old Trafford in today’s English Premier League headline clash.
United have won their last nine games in all competitions – their best run since an 11-match winning streak in early 2009 – while Liverpool are still to win a game in 2017.
Mourinho’s men needed an ultra-defensive performance to secure a 0-0 draw at Anfield when the teams last met in October but three months on his team are now firing on all cylinders.
“Because the results are better, that changes a lot of things,” the United manager said.
“You know at that time I had less time of working together with my players. Now I have a little bit more.
“We know each other better, we have a certain way of thinking football, we have a certain way to play football.
“We don’t just have good performances we have also the happiness of the good results.”
United’s trip to Anfield fell during a troubling sequence that saw them win just twice in 11 league outings.
But although they have sat in sixth place for over two months they are now just three points off a Champions League place and five points below second-place Liverpool.
A key factor in their revival has been the improved form of record signing Paul Pogba who has seemed liberated since Michael Carrick was brought into the team to anchor the midfield.
The France midfielder has scored three goals and supplied three assists in his last 10 games and credits Mourinho with giving him the freedom to play his natural game.
Wayne Rooney would love to score the 250th goal he needs to surpass Bobby Charlton as United’s outright record scorer against Liverpool but having started the last two games he may drop to the bench.
Mourinho hopes to have 18-goal top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic back after he missed Tuesday’s 2-0 League Cup semi-final first-leg win over Hull through illness.
Marcos Rojo, who missed that game with a muscle strain, is also due to be assessed but fellow defender Eric Bailly is on African Nations Cup duty with the Ivory Coast. — AFP