Soccer

History favours Jose Mourinho at Liverpool's Anfield

16 December 2018 - 00:00 By Reuters, Goal and ESPN

Despite sitting atop the Premier League table, Liverpool face a real risk of crashing back to earth against a Manchester United side they've failed to beat in their past eight league matches.
Set to be their 201st meeting, the Red Devils boast a clear overall edge, claiming 80 wins to the Merseysiders' 65.
Liverpool's attacking trio of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have also found the going tough against United with all three failing to score or assist for the Reds in Premier League matches involving them - a combined total of 855 minutes.
While his time at Old Trafford could be coming to an end, Jose Mourinho has a proven track record of delivering at Anfield, winning four of his eight Premier League games at the venue, which is the best ratio of any manager to have played more than five matches at Liverpool's sacred ground.
History between these two might make for interesting reading, but there's no disputing the current form of two sides performing very differently.
The Reds are on their joint-best unbeaten run in the Premier League having avoided defeat 17 games running and haven't conceded more than once in any of their past 19 clashes in the competition.
United meanwhile have conceded 26 goals in 16 Premier League games this season - just two fewer than they conceded in the whole of their 2017-18 campaign.
Those defensive troubles see Mourinho's side in sixth spot and a stunning 16 points behind league leaders Liverpool.
The Red Devils' last two visits to Anfield ended 0-0 - a result they'll likely settle for again against a Reds side flying high and helped in no small part by a resurgent Mohamed Salah.
With some quick to criticise him early in the season, the Egyptian has since answered his critics by scoring the winning goal in six Premier League games this season and bagging 10 in total to make him the competition's current joint-top scorer.
United do have a track record of shutting Salah down however and they'll have to do that again if they're to have any hope of keeping their run against Liverpool going.
It's a derby in all but name and that means form can go out of the window.
There's no doubt Liverpool are the better team, but Mourinho often finds a way to pull off surprise results like United did in Juventus on the way to the Champions League last 16. The worry for United though is their reliable last line of defence. David de Gea has struggled for form this season.
Last season's Premier League Golden Glove winner has not looked himself since some uncharacteristic mistakes undermined Spain's World Cup campaign and they went out in the last 16.
De Gea's struggles have continued into this season, where he has conceded 26 goals in 16 games whereas last season he let in only 28 in 37 appearances.
Liverpool battled through a tough game at home to Napoli to qualify and that game summed up the difference between last season and this. A year ago Jurgen Klopp knew his men would concede so went gung-ho in an attempt to score three, four or five goals.
Now with Virgil van Dijk leading a solid line they don't look like conceding - hence a confident 1-0 defeat of Napoli and just one goal let in at home in the Premier League...

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