Liverpool are battling the ghosts of Premier League seasons past this weekend
A win for Liverpool this weekend over Manchester United might prove they’ve banished the ghosts of their past.
As one of the greatest soccer coaches of his generation Jurgen Klopp has won most places, but the German has never heard the final whistle in triumph at Old Trafford. Indeed, he has made four trips as Liverpool manager to the home of his team’s biggest rivals, but never come away with three points, drawing them three times and losing once in four games.
The Theatre of Dreams may have lost some of its fear factor in recent years, but Klopp’s Liverpool still seem to have a mental block when it comes to away days there. Going even further back than the appointment of Klopp at Anfield four years ago, Liverpool have only beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford once in the past decade.
Had the Reds beaten Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side on their own patch last season they would have won their first Premier League title. Those two points gained would have been enough for them to pip Manchester City, enough for Klopp and his players to deliver Liverpool’s first league championship in a generation.
That 0-0 draw came just eight months ago. However, there is a sense that Liverpool have taken another step in their development under Klopp since then. This weekend, they will pitch up at Old Trafford as reigning European champions having beaten Tottenham in Madrid at the start of June and with an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table under their arm.
Sunday’s match presents Liverpool with a chance to banish the ghosts of the past. Klopp has made great progress in untangling the web of mental baggage that weighed down the Anfield club for decades and a victory at Old Trafford would represent the hurdling of yet another psychological obstacle.
The time-honored cliche states that the form book is thrown out of the window for games laden with so much rivalry and competition like this one, but in this particular instance, it’s impossible to completely disregard the shape of both teams coming into this match. On one hand, Liverpool have won 17 straight Premier League games, a run stretching all the way back to March. On the other, Man Utd are just two points off the bottom three with just two wins from their opening eight fixtures.
Solskjaer is under immense pressure and will be without David de Gea and Paul Pogba, his two best players, for this weekend’s match due to injury. Conversely, Liverpool will welcome back first choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker for the first time since the opening game of the season. To label the Reds favorites doesn’t quite do justice to their position.
But all this could potentially weigh heavy on the minds of the Liverpool players who take to the Old Trafford pitch this weekend. Never before have they been such heavy favorites to win at the home of their greatest rivals. Not for decades has the Anfield outfit been so much stronger than Man Utd, the most successful team in the history of English league football. They are now the predominant force in the North-West of the country.
Even at this relatively early stage of the season, there is a sense that Liverpool are the only side who can beat themselves. There’s little doubt that they are the best team in the Premier League at this moment and so their season will be defined by other factors. Factors in the mind. Sunday’s trip to face Man Utd could become a manifestation of this.
Klopp has never won at Old Trafford. Mohamed Salah has never scored against Man Utd in the Premier League. United are unbeaten in their last five home games against Liverpool. In almost every way, the omens aren’t good for the Reds. But Liverpool have equally never been Premier League frontrunners like this before. They have never been this good. The ghosts of the past are in their sights.