Stat pack: All you need to know about Man United ahead of Liverpool clash

Here's everything you need to know about Man United ahead of their trip to Anfield this weekend to take on Liverpool.

The atmosphere at Liverpool right now couldn't contrast more with that at Manchester United. The Reds sit at the top of the Premier League and feel like they're only going to improve further. United feel quite the opposite - they're struggling for any consistency and it's difficult to see improvement on the way.

Especially because of their injury crisis. Erik Ten Hag has a bad situation and it seems to be getting worse.

What better, then, than a trip to a ground where they lost 7-0 last season? That's coming on Sunday and Liverpool will plan on piling the misery onto their old rivals.

That's the hope, anyway, and the Reds are unquestionably favourite in the fixture. Here's who they can expect to turn up at Anfield.

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Liverpool vs Man United: Headline figures

Man United sit in sixth in the Premier League - which really isn't that bad. It's not where they want to be, of course, but they are within touching distance of the Champions League spots.

What has created a negative atmosphere is their ability to lose games. Bizarrely, United haven't drawn a Premier League game all season - they either win or lose with no in-between.

Defensively, they're not too bad. Their 21 conceded is good enough for seventh in the table but that is in stark contrast to their goals scored.

They've scored just 18 goals this season, putting them 15th in the Premier League. That's just one more than Luton Town and Nottingham Forest - two struggling teams - have managed. That can be summed up by Scott McTominay sitting atop their goalscoring charts with five.

The stats combine to have United's Goal Difference at minus 3. That's actually a bottom half total.

Per Understat, their Expected Points for the season (taking Expected Goals into account for each game) is a mere 20 - seven below their actualy total. However, that's the same difference between Liverpool's xPts and actual points.

Expected Goals

Data suggests United are seeing far fewer goals in their matches than they really should be. The 'good' news is that their xG total is 25, suggesting their main problem going forward is finishing rather than creating.

But they've also conceded fewer goals than they probably should have. 21 have flown in but that figure should really be closer to 26. That also means that even their xGD is negative (-1.1).

United sit bottom-half for both xG and xG Against. It's a bad sign, in all honesty, and points to things not turning around for Erik Ten Hag's team. It might even get worse.

Liverpool are a complete contrast. They lead the league in xG (32) and are third for xG against (19). Data tells us the Reds should be challenging for the title and they are.

Possession

Man United like to keep the ball, boasting an average of 53 per cent possession this season. Their biggest problem there, though, is that Liverpool are better at it.

The Reds average 69 per cent possession this season. That's the fifth-best in the Premier League this season, while United are down in seventh.

United's record when they've got sub-50 per cent possession this season isn't great, either. They did win the fixture where they had the least, beating Burnley 1-0 with just 39 per cent.

But that also means they had just 39 per cent of the ball against Burnley.

There was also a home win against Chelsea with 45 per cent of the ball, and a 3-0 win at Everton with 49 per cent. But they also lost to Manchester City, Newcastle United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. All four are top-four rivals, all had more possession, and all put United to the sword.

Encouraging for Liverpool, to say the least.

Liverpool vs Man United: Fun fact

Man United have not beaten Liverpool at Anfield since January 2016. They haven't even scored a goal against them there since December 16th 2018.