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Graeme Souness Says Manchester United Beating Liverpool Would Be The Biggest Upset in Top-flight Football In Six Years

Graeme Souness Says Manchester United Beating Liverpool Would Be The Biggest Upset in Top-flight Football In Six Years

A quite astonishing claim from the former Liverpool boss...

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Graeme Souness believes a win for Manchester United against Liverpool would be the biggest top-flight upset since Wigan beat Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup final.

United have had their worst start league for 30 years and currently lie in 14th place in the Premier League, while Liverpool have won all eight of their Premier League fixtures and can go eight points clear of Manchester City once again with victory at Old Trafford.

The two sides are are absolutely worlds apart at the moment and it's caused Souness, who played for and manager Liverpool, to make the quite astonishing claim.

'If Manchester United beat Liverpool at Old Trafford today, it will be the biggest upset in top-flight football since Manchester City lost to Wigan in the 2013 FA Cup final,' Souness wrote in his column the Sunday Times.

"I'm not saying that for the effect, I'm not saying it because I'm an ex-Liverpool player.

"I'm saying that because that's what all the relevant indicators signify: the strength on paper of the respective squads; the fitness of key players (Paul Pogba out for United and maybe David de Gea too); the fact that Jurgen Klopp knows his best starting XI and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer clearly doesn't; and recent form - eight league wins out of eight for Liverpool, just one win from their past seven for their opponents."

Liverpool's recent record at Old Trafford is actually very poor, having won just five and lost 16 in 27 Premier League games. They've not won at the ground in their last four visits, drawing three and losing one - with their last win coming under Brendan Rodgers back in March 2014.

Image: PA
Image: PA

"Form goes out of the window for derby games" is the age-old cliche but Sky Sports pundit Souness feels Liverpool are too strong for their rivals.

"These are dangerous times at Old Trafford so the visit of their rivals, whose confidence is sky-high, is the last thing they need," Souness added.

"Usually when you have a "derby game" - and that's what today's fixture effectively is - you can make a case for the underdog winning, whatever the gulf in class between the two sides.

'Sometimes you're banking on their sheer doggedness or passion to get a result. Those qualities, however, have been in short supply of late at Manchester United. Look at Liverpool's likely line-up, on the other hand, and it's hard to find the Achilles heel.

"If Sadio Mane doesn't score then Mo Salah will, but don't for a moment think that Roberto Firmino is the junior partner in the offensive spearhead. His touch and running off the ball are the glue which holds that trio together."

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Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Graeme Souness