Liverpool vs Man Utd LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction as Reds go top of the table

Manchester United have kept just one clean sheet in their last 10 away games in all competitions.

Nearly six years after the world-record £89.3m fee, the #Pogback hashtag and Stormzy announcement, and not to mention a substantial cut for Mino Raiola, Paul Pogba’s Manchester United career is finally approaching its ugly end game. It did not have to be this way, but it has been inevitable that it would be this way for a while.

Saturday was a strange day at Old Trafford. There was the toxicity and acrimony of the anti-Glazer protests, but there was blazing sunshine and enthusiasm in equal measure. Not long after the Stretford End sang an indiscriminate “you’re not fit to wear the shirt”, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the free kick that completed his hat-trick and a 3-2 win over Norwich City.

Now just three points off fourth-place Tottenham, there is a slim, faint chance of a top-four finish again, and players who might have been booed off the pitch for surrendering a two-goal lead against opponents who are bottom of the league were instead applauded at full time. Except one, that is.

Jurgen Klopp makes two changes to the Liverpool team that started against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday. Jordan Henderson and Joel Matip come in to replace Ibrahima Konate and Naby Keita.

There are four changes for Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United. Alex Telles, Jesse Lingard, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo all drop out with Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Phil Jones, Nemanja Matic and Marcus Rashford brought in.

Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Thiago, Henderson, Salah, Mane, Diaz

Man Utd XI: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Jones, Maguire, Dalot, Matic, Elanga, Fernandes, Pogba, Rashford

Liverpool have won 17 of the Premier League meetings between the sides with United winning 28, while 14 have ended in a draw.

At Anfield in that period, the Reds have won 10, with seven draws and 12 losses.

If they beat United this evening the hosts will achieve their first league double over their historic rivals since the 2013-14 season.

Harry Maguire insists derailing Liverpool’s unprecedented quadruple bid is not a motivating factor ahead of Manchester United’s visit to Anfield tonight.

After lifting the Carabao Cup in February, Liverpool beat Manchester City last weekend to reach the FA Cup final. They remain just one point behind Pep Guardiola’s side in the title race while a Champions League semi-final tie against Villarreal leaves Liverpool as heavy favourites to reach another European final.

United meanwhile have renewed hope in the top-four race after Tottenham and Arsenal both stumbled at the weekend, but Maguire said righting the wrongs of United’s 5-0 defeat by Liverpool earlier this season was the biggest incentive for his side.

Harry Maguire is hoping that Manchester United’s victory over Norwich at the weekend gets their season back on track and allows the team to make a run for the top four in the closing stages of the year.

“It was an important win at the weekend against Norwich,” he said. “It was a bit end-to-end and a little bit open for our liking, but we got there in the end.

“We stuck to it, even though we obviously conceded the two goals and they came back to equalise. We showed good spirit to go on and win the game and the three points was the most important thing at the weekend, not the performance.

“I think, against Everton, we deserved something out of the game, particularly as we dominated it for large parts and conceded an unfortunate goal,

“We knew, going into Norwich, that we had to win the game if we had any chance of reaching the top four. We’ve done that and now we’ve got big games coming up and we know we’ve got to play better in those games to get the three points.”

Manchester United have won just two of their last eight games in all competitions with three draws and three defeats in that run.

The Red Devils are aiming to avoid three successive away defeats in the league for the first time since April 2019.

As the Manchester United party get to an expectant Anfield tonight, they will doubtless recognise some of the atmosphere with a degree of bitterness. That is not just the feeling of what it’s like to be involved in an intensive title race, with so much on the line. Some of them may even remember events almost exactly 23 years ago. It is funny how football history tends to keep repeating in that way, albeit with a twist on what went before.

Then, as now, one of the primary remaining motivations for a storied English club was little more than stopping their main rivals from achieving a feat that went beyond anything they had achieved in their own previous dynasty.

It was the treble for United in 1999, which Liverpool had never managed in the 1970s and 1980s. It is the quadruple for Jurgen Klopp’s now, as well as the possibility of matching United’s 20 league titles.

Liverpool have won 10 consecutive top-flight home games and are unbeaten in the league at Anfield this season with 12 wins and three draws.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have only lost once in their last 24 games in all competitions, a 1-0 home defeat to Inter Milan in the Champions League.