Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick believes his old club could have a big opportunity to beat Liverpool this weekend and go six points clear at the top of the Premier League.
The Red Devils won away at Burnley in midweek to overtake reigning champions Liverpool at the top, and that makes this Sunday’s clash at Anfield a huge one in terms of determining how this season’s title race might go.
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United don’t have the best recent record away at Liverpool, but Chadwick is optimistic that this could change this weekend for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the 40-year-old believes Liverpool’s high-pressing style could leave spaces for United’s pacey forwards to exploit on the break, which makes sense with how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tends to set his sides up in the big games.
On top of that, Chadwick pointed out that the lack of a home crowd at the moment during lockdown means Liverpool won’t benefit as they usually do from a fired up atmosphere from their fans, which could make it a more even contest.
“I think it’ll be a quite tight, cagey game,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside. “You know what Liverpool are going to do, they’re going to press from the front. I think if United can be composed and break down the press, there is space to play in and that could suit United’s style with the pace they’ve got up front.
“The crowd are a massive factor at Anfield, the rivalry is so fierce … it does make it a tense environment, which will be slightly different this weekend. Without the crowd there it’ll be a strange, subdued atmosphere.
“Liverpool won’t get that extra energy from the crowd at Anfield so it’s going to be an interesting game. A game between Liverpool and United at Anfield without a crowd will make it one of the strangest ever games between these two teams.
“But I do think it’s a great opportunity for United to go there, with Liverpool not in the best of form, and get three points that would really turn the title race upside down and get people talking about United being real title challengers this season.”