There’s nothing like a Premier League rivalry match with massive stakes. That’s what fans will be treated to when Manchester United hosts Liverpool on Matchday 9 of the English Premier League season at Old Trafford.
The result will carry significant implications in the battle for the title, even with 29 matches left to go in the season. Manchester United (6th, 14 points) needs a win to stay within reach of Liverpool (2nd, 18 points) and league leaders Chelsea (1st, 22 points).
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is under pressure to deliver trophies this year and a recent spell of three winless matches in league play (0-2-1, 1 point) along with an early elimination in the Carabao Cup has only added to the scrutiny. In contrast, Liverpool has been flying to start the season, still undefeated after 12 matches in all competitions. That's not all: Jurgen Klopp's side was the highest scoring side in the Premier League entering Matchday 9, with two or more goals in 11 of the 12 games.
LIVE BLOG: All the updates from Man United vs. Liverpool
Both teams are coming off unconvincing group stage wins in the UEFA Champions League in midweek and their stars turned out to be the heroes. Cristiano Ronaldo came up with another big goal against Atalanta to rescue Manchester United — who knows where they’d be without the 36-year-old’s six goals in eight matches — while Mohamed Salah is on a club-record run of nine straight matches with a goal after netting twice against Atletico Madrid.
How to watch Manchester United vs. Liverpool
- Date: Sunday, Oct. 24
- Time: 11:30 a.m. ET
- TV Channel: NBCSN
- Spanish-language TV: Telemundo
- Streaming: fuboTV
The match will air live in English and Spanish in the USA. NBCSN (English) and Telemundo (Spanish) will air the game and both channels are available to stream on fuboTV.
New subscribers to fuboTV can take advantage of a free 7-day trial.
MORE: All the results from Matchday 9 in the Premier League
Manchester United vs. Liverpool: Starting lineups
So much for the alarms that Solskjaer put out there ahead of the match. It turns out that Bruno Fernandes, Fred and Marcus Rashford are well enough from their midweek Champions League knocks to start again. It's the same lineup that faced Atalanta and Paul Pogba is on the bench. Center back Raphael Varane is still out with the groin issue.
Manchester United starting lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): 1-David de Gea-GK — 29-Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 2-Victor Lindelof, 5-Harry Maguire (c), 23-Luke Shaw — 17-Fred, 39-Scott McTominay — 11-Mason Greenwood, 18-Bruno Fernandes, 10-Marcus Rashford — 7-Cristiano Ronaldo
Manchester United subs: 26-Dean Henderson-GK, 3-Eric Bailly, 20-Diogo Dalot, 34-Donny van de Beek, 31-Nemanja Matic, 6-Paul Pogba, 14-Jesse Lingard, 25-Jadon Sancho, 21-Edinson Cavani
Liverpool won't have central midfielder Fabinho for the game and Curtis Jones starts on the bench. So it'll be James Milner and Naby Keita in their place. Diogo Jota is in the lineup as Sadio Mane gets a rest and so does Joel Matip as Ibrahima Konate takes his place. Harvey Elliott (ankle) and Thiago Alcantara (calf) are still out.
Liverpool starting lineup (4-3-3 left to right): 1-Alisson — 26-Andrew Robertson, 4-Virgil Van Dijk, 5-Ibrahima Konate, 66-Trent Alexander-Arnold — 8-Naby Keita, 14-Jordan Henderson, 7-James Milner — 9-Roberto Firmino, 20 Diogo Jota, 11 Mohamed Salah
Liverpool subs (9): 13-Adrian-GK, 21-Konstantinos Tsimikas, 32-Joel Matip, 12-Joe Gomez, 15-Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 17-Curtis Jones, 18-Takumi Minamino, 10-Sadio Mane, 27-Divock Origi
Manchester United vs. Liverpool: Betting odds & prediction
Odds courtesy of DraftKings
Pick: Liverpool over 5.5 shots on target -115
Picking a side is tricky in this spot. Liverpool is clearly the better side at the moment, but Man United is known to come up with great performances when the Red Devils have their backs to the wall. So playing a team prop is the alternative chosen here.
Entering Matchday 9, Liverpool has scored the most goals and generated the most shots on goal of any team in the Premier League and it’s no surprise why: In addition to Salah, its attacking players have been in strong form. They will face a Man United team that has allowed the 10th most shots on target in the league (34) with the third highest shots on target percentage allowed (34.7 %), per FBref.
MORE: Wild finish in Man United vs. Atalanta match
In the 12 matches played across all competitions, Liverpool has only failed to get six or more shots on goal on five occasions. Two of those came against Norwich City and the other three happened in the most evenly contested matchups of the season: at Brentford (4), vs. Manchester City (3) and at Atletico Madrid (5).
Given how porous Man United has shown itself to be — only one shutout in 12 matches — and especially without its top defensive signing Raphael Varane, the over 5.5 shots on target for Liverpool at -115 makes for an interesting play.
Prediction: Manchester United 1, Liverpool 2
- Moneyline: Manchester United +205 / Draw +265 / Liverpool +125
- Spread: Manchester United +0.5 (-145) / Liverpool -0.5 (+130)
- O/U 2.5 total goals: Over -185 / Under +145
- Both Teams To Score: Yes -225 / No +170
