Liverpool vs Manchester United: a wounded champion, a United side chasing an Anfield first

When Manchester United walk out at Anfield on Sunday, they will meet a Liverpool side almost unrecognisable from the one that cantered to the title five months ago. Arne Slot's champions opened the 2025-26 campaign with five straight Premier League wins and looked every inch a team built to defend its crown. They arrive at the North West derby instead on their first three-game losing streak under Slot - beaten by Crystal Palace in stoppage time, eliminated from a winnable Champions League night at Galatasaray, then undone by a late Chelsea winner at Stamford Bridge.

For Ruben Amorim, that wobble could hardly be better timed. United's own start has been jagged - a 3-0 hammering in the Manchester derby, a win over Chelsea, a loss at Brentford, then a steadying 2-0 home victory against Sunderland - but they come to Merseyside scenting an opportunity that has eluded them for the best part of a decade.

What is at stake

The headline numbers frame the day. Liverpool's title last season was their 20th in the English top flight, drawing them level with United on the all-time list. Yet recent history at this ground belongs entirely to the hosts: United have not won a league match at Anfield since January 2016, when Wayne Rooney's goal settled a 1-0 win under Louis van Gaal. Seven United managers have come and gone since without breaking the spell.

For Liverpool, the priority is simpler - stop the bleeding. A fourth straight defeat, against this opponent of all opponents, would turn a worrying dip into a genuine crisis and pile pressure on a squad still integrating an expensively rebuilt front line.

The tactical battleground

Slot's Liverpool remain committed to a high line and an aggressive press, with the full-backs pushed up to compress the pitch and the front line tasked with starting the squeeze. That approach won them the league, but it also offers space in behind - and that is precisely the kind of pitch United want to play on.

Amorim's 3-4-3 is at its most dangerous in transition. With Bryan Mbeumo's pace stretching the channels and Matheus Cunha drifting between the lines, United have the runners to punish a defence caught high. The wing-backs are the swing factor: get them up the touchline and United can pin Liverpool's full-backs and turn the game into a track meet; sit them too deep and Amorim's side risks being penned in and overrun.

The midfield duel may decide everything. Ryan Gravenberch has been Liverpool's metronome, with Dominik Szoboszlai's running and Alexis Mac Allister's control around him. United will look to Casemiro's screening and Bruno Fernandes's bursts from deep to break the lines and feed the front three before Liverpool's rest-defence resets. Whoever wins the second balls in that central zone will likely dictate the tempo.

The players to watch

Mohamed Salah is the pivotal figure. He plundered 29 league goals to claim the Golden Boot last season and was directly involved in 47 goals across the campaign, a record for a 38-game Premier League. His start to this season has been uncharacteristically quiet, and Anfield will be desperate for the old ruthlessness to return against opponents he has so often tormented.

At the other end, Virgil van Dijk's reading of those United counters is critical - a single misjudged step from the captain is the difference between a clean interception and a one-on-one. United's own threat from set pieces should not be underestimated either; experienced heads like Harry Maguire give Amorim a genuine aerial outlet when games tighten in the final 15 minutes.

Liverpool's summer reshape adds another layer of intrigue. Slot spent heavily to refresh the attack - Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and a British-record move for Alexander Isak among the arrivals - and a derby is a demanding stage on which to find fluency. How quickly that new-look front line clicks, or doesn't, could shape the contest.

History and the hunch

The corresponding fixture last January ended 2-2, United frustrating then-runaway leaders Liverpool through Amad's late equaliser. That afternoon hinted at a truth this fixture keeps proving: form often goes out of the window when these two collide.

Liverpool retain the deeper, more proven squad and the backing of a ground that lifts them when the mood turns anxious. But a champion shorn of confidence is vulnerable, and United have both the transitional weapons and the long-overdue motivation to exploit it. Expect a charged, end-to-end occasion in which the first goal carries unusual weight - and in which Anfield's nerve, as much as its noise, will be tested.