Liverpool vs Manchester United - 3 key battles | Premier League 2019-20

#2 The fight for midfield supremacy

Liverpool's midfield is efficient and difficult to contain

You have to feel a bit sorry for Solskjaer. It is an indisputable fact that the manager has not got his tactics right on many occasions and needs to motivate his squad a bit more, but the injuries to his squad have not helped Ole's case. Manchester United's bright young star Scott McTominay and star midfielder Paul Pogba are both absent for this game (and they have been for quite a while), and it will be an uphill task for the visitors to win the midfield battle on the day with the likes of Andreas Pereira and Fred.

Liverpool's midfield may not be the most creative or have the biggest of stars in world football, but they are efficient and get the job done. Georginio Wijnaldum is perhaps the best midfielder in the world in getting out of tight spaces and holding the ball in the middle of the park, whereas Jordan Henderson's long balls and the continuous press is a nuisance to the opposition. United attack primarily on the counter against big teams, so they should not have a problem giving up the bulk of possession, but they do need to stop Liverpool from dominating the spaces in the middle of the park and getting those killer passes in.

Nemanja Matic, Fred, and Pereira will need to work non-stop to deny Liverpool's midfield the space and freedom in the middle of the park. As such, it will be interesting to see how Solskjaer positions his midfield to contain Liverpool's dynamic pressing and space exploitation.