“It feels right again” said Gary Neville, after United secured a 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough with an 86th minute winner from record signing Paul Pogba. The Red Devils recovered from going a goal down in the second half to secure three points, a finish indicative of the Ferguson era, an era fans are starting to believe will return under José Mourinho. It’s this belief, spreading through the fans, the team, the management, that gives United the edge over England’s second biggest club - Liverpool.
Unbeaten in 15, with 9 wins on the bounce, United go into Sunday’s pivotal clash against arch rivals Liverpool as the Premier League’s in-form side, having won their last 6 league matches, including a 1-0 win over title hopefuls Tottenham. Whilst Liverpool have sandwiched 4 wins between 2-2 draws against West Ham and most recently against relegation candidates Sunderland. Klopp’s side also failed to inspire, albeit with kids, in a 0-0 draw against League Two high flyers Plymouth in the FA Cup third round.
Despite not moving up the table since an indifferent start to the 2016/17 season under Mourinho, United have closed the gap on second placed Liverpool to 5 points, and they’ll be confident of reducing that deficit to 2 points come Sunday evening.
Mourinho now looks to know his best XI, settling on a 4-3-3 formation with Pogba playing to the left of the midfield 3, his most influential position during his time at Juventus, with Michael Carrick guarding the defence and Ander Herrera doing the dirty work. The evergreen Zlatan Ibrahimovic forms the pinnacle of Mourinho’s attack with the Premier League’s 2nd highest scorer (13) making doubters ‘eat their balls’, as the Swede so elegantly put it. The emergence of Phil Jones’ and Marcos Rojo’s defensive partnership has even made Mourinho put plans to sign a centre back in January on ice, with the pair conceding just 3 goals during United’s 100% league run. Although, Rojo is now a doubt for Sunday’s game after picking up a muscular injury against Reading in the FA Cup.
Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann feels, and fears United’s momentum, telling Paddy Power (via the Express) there’s no reason why the Red Devils strong run can’t continue until the end of the season.
"They are a serious force, and there’s no reason why this momentum would stop between now and May. Man United still have a massive role to play in the title race.
"Ten points is a lot of ground to make up on Chelsea, but in the third week of December they were nine points off fourth place.”
It’s clear the fear factor has returned to Old Trafford, and without the likes of Sadio Mané who is on international duty with Sengal, and despite the return of a likely rusty Philippe Coutinho, It’s this fear factor that will give United the edge over their opposition on Sunday.
Source: DSG