Liverpool. Manchester United. One of the most heated and storied rivalries in football. Always a must-watch game, these two teams have long despised one another with a degree of emotion and intensity found in few other derbies in the modern era of the game. Even without top-four positioning in the Premier League on the line, this is a matchup where both sides will give every ounce of their being to try to get the win over the other.
Manchester United vs. Liverpool 2016 live stream: Game time, TV schedule and how to watch online
We’re about to watch the next chapter of one of the biggest rivalries in football.
Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
In fact, even despite that lack of EPL championship meaning that this rivalry has often had in the past, in a real way it seems like this match is more important than most of their meetings in recent years. Manchester United are falling down the table and Liverpool are trying to climb it; Louis Van Gaal is fighting to keep his job and Jürgen Klopp is fighting to better establish his own. A win for Liverpool wouldn’t just see them catch Manchester in the table, it would see Klopp finally get the huge, signature win his reign has needed since he took over earlier this season -- and it could very possibly be the final nail in the coffin of the Van Gall era in Manchester.
In a game like this, with so much passion and emotion, and with so much on the line, anything and everything can happen. Spectacular goals, bone crunching tackles, penalties, red cards -- you name it, we could see it. Only one thing is a certainty: Anfield will be rocking.
Key player -- Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
Firmino spent a lot of time in the first half of the season struggling to adapt to the pace of the English game and to his oft-changing role on Liverpool’s side. In the last few weeks, though, he’s been showing steady and significant improvement, capped off by his brace in an absolutely fantastic performance against Arsenal at midweek. His ability to find spaces to exploit will be key against a Manchester back line that’s often struggled against players like Firmino this season, and his significant talents could be on full display in this all-important game.
Key matchup -- Emre Can (Liverpool) vs. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Rooney’s form has been incredibly temperamental this season, but when he plays well, Manchester tend to win. When he doesn’t it’s more of a crapshoot, with things often turning out rather poorly for the denizens of Old Trafford. One key thing has been what opponents’ midfields do with Rooney -- he doesn’t have the legs he once did, so if they man-mark him with an active defensive midfielder, he tends to get shut out of games. Well, Can is an extremely active defensive midfielder, who would be just thrilled to man-mark Rooney, and you know that Klopp has looked at a bunch of tape of Rooney’s issues this season and will tell Can to just stay on the United attacker’s hip all day long.
Liverpool injuries and suspensions
Out: Phillipe Coutinho, Divock Origi, Martin Skrtel In doubt: Dejan Lovren, Daniel Sturridge
Manchester United injuries and suspensions
Out: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Phil Jones, Nick Powell, Luke Shaw, Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo
Match Date/Time: Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, 2 p.m. local
Venue: Anfield Road, Liverpool, England
TV: NBCSN (U.S. - English), Telemundo (U.S. - Spanish), RDS 2, TSN 1, 4, 5 (Canada), Sky Sports 1/HD (U.K.)
Online: NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S.), Sky Go (U.K.)
See More:
