It’s been 4½ years since Liverpool were last on top of the Premier League table on 7 May 2014. However, that’s the lofty position in which Jürgen Klopp’s men find themselves ahead of their clash with Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday 16 December, in what will be one of the most keenly anticipated matches of the year thus far.
Liverpool eventually finished that season in second place behind a Manchester City side managed by Manuel Pellegrini, largely the result of it squandering a 3-0 lead away at Crystal Palace in the penultimate game of the season. However, this current Liverpool side is a long way removed from the Brendan Rogers team of 2013/14, both in terms of its resilience and its strike power, and if Klopp’s side were to go on and win Liverpool’s first ever Premier League title, it would not be the shock to the system that a win in 2013/14 would likely have been — you can currently get a best price of 11/4 on Liverpool winning the Premier League, behind only Manchester City who are odds-on at 2/5.
On the other hand, while the plaudits have been coming thick and fast for Liverpool, it’s hard to imagine that the press coverage could have been any more hostile towards Manchester United this season. Jose Mourinho is seemingly in perpetual conflict with key members of his squad (not least his open warfare with Paul Pogba), his press conferences have become even spikier than normal, while the side’s patchy form means that Mourinho can’t claim the moral high ground in terms of performance as he has been able to do previously when under fire from the press.
United come into the clash at Anfield in sixth place on the Premier League table with 26 points (P16 W7 D5 L4), a full 16 points behind the unbeaten Liverpool. Aside from a 4-1 win its last Premier League outing (at home to bottom-placed Fulham), the feeling is that Mourinho’s men have been hanging to its top six spot by scraping draws rather than performing with any confidence, and so this match could be a pivotal moment not just in this season, but also in the Portuguese’s tenure at Old Trafford (the odds are as short as 5/2 on Mourinho being the next Premier League manager to lose his job).
Fans of both clubs from around the world are eagerly anticipating the game and the viewing numbers globally are expected to be astronomical. One of the most popular ways supporters will watch the game is via a sports betting app, and the best sites with live streaming also provide a host of other features that tell you everything you need to know about this huge clash, as well as offering a great range of betting markets.
Unsurprisingly, Liverpool goes into match against United on 16 December as odds-on favourite. You can get a best price of 3/5 on the Reds winning, while United is a very generous 11/2 to snatch a surprise victory (the draw is 16/5).
The bookmakers are clearly expecting goals in this match if the Total Goals Over/Under markets are anything to go by. It’s odds-on that at least three goals will be scored, with a best Over 2.5 Goals price of 73/100, while if you expect a real goal fest, you can get a tempting 19/2 on Over 5.5 Goals.
When it comes to who will score the goals, Mohamed Salah is odds-on to get on the score sheet at a best price at 19/20. You can also get 7/5 on Daniel Sturridge scoring, or 28/17 on Roberto Firmino. Tellingly, there are seven Liverpool players who are at shorter prices to score than the best-priced Manchester United player, Romelu Lukaku at 14/5. If you think the in-form Salah might have a real day out, you can currently get 19/1 on Liverpool’s Egyptian striker scoring a hat-trick.
The bookmakers rarely get it wrong, so ultimately, it’s hard to go past a Liverpool home win that enables it to remain atop the Premier League. However, Mourinho’s sides do tend to get up for the big occasion, so in all reality a rout seems unlikely. Bearing this in mind, the best value bet for this match therefore looks like being a Liverpool 3-1 win, at a current price of 11/1. For United supporters who think their side will put in a better performance than the form table suggests, a 2-2 draw at a best price of 67/4 is tempting and looks to offer some good value.
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