An estimated 900,000,000 people in over 200 countries are expected to tune in to watch this bitter rivalry unfold to make it the most watched club match of all time.
Two of the most successful clubs in English football history have surpassed the ‘El Clasico’ as the most anticipated game of the season due to the relentless conflict and passion between the two local major cities.
Playing down
However, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has played down the occasion.
“I think it’s good to play without any added pressure or emotion. I have to manage in the most professional way. No match is more important than others.”
Mourinho confirmed that club captain Michael Carrick will not feature along with fellow central midfielders Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini who have hamstring and knee problems respectively. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo also remain sidelined but ‘The Special One” remains confident.
“We don’t cry about injuries. We just trust the players that are going to play” he added.
Injury concerns
Liverpool have some injury concerns ahead of the mouth-watering clash at Anfield. Sadio Mane has been ruled out for an estimated six weeks with a hamstring injury picked up on international duty.
The Ballon d’Or nominee will be sorely missed, as was the case when he was missing for several weeks last season after representing Senegal at the African Cup of Nations. Liverpool won only one game out of seven in that time, which came against League Two Plymouth in an FA Cup replay.
However, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp remains optimistic.
“Thank God that obviously we can still play football without Sadio because we already had to do this a lot of times.”
Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne are Liverpool’s only other absentees.
Confident
The German insists his side are capable of claiming the victory in front of the newly renamed Kenny Dalglish stand.
“It’s the first game with the Kenny Dalglish stand so we want to use all the power we can create in this wonderful stadium. It isn’t a normal game, it doesn’t mean you can get more than three points but there’s no excuses, you have to try everything.”
Written by Conor Lee
Follow Conor on Twitter @cmlivesports
Check out more of his writing via his excellent blog, Live Sports Reports
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