In 48 hours time, Manchester United and Liverpool lock horns at Old Trafford in a match that could have a big say in the Premier League title race.
United, unbeaten domestically in 12 games under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, will be looking to puncture Liverpool’s pursuit of Premier League glory while simultaneously boosting their own hopes of a top-four finish, something that appeared impossible a couple of months ago.
For Liverpool, not only do they have the chance to burst the Solskjaer bubble by inflicting a first Premier League defeat upon the Norwegian, but a win would propel Jurgen Klopp’s men back to the summit of the table; three points ahead of Man City with 11 games left on the rota.
Liverpool edge it in the betting, priced at 11/8 to United’s 21/10, but in a bid to inspire his troops Solskjaer has an ace up his sleeve, as he turns to arguably the greatest manager of all time, and one who famously said:
"My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch. And you can print that."
We are of course referring to Sir Alex Ferguson who could be called upon to give Solskjaer’s Red Devils a team talk ahead of Sunday’s showdown.
"[Fergie] would be welcome to have his talk to the players if he wanted to, the Gaffer, because we know how much it meant for him to overtake Liverpool,” said Solskjaer as reported in the Telegraph.
“I think our players know what it means for everyone at Man United.”
In his short time as interim manager Solskjaer has already beaten high-profile bosses in the ilk of Mauricio Pochettino, Unai Emery, Maurizio Sarri, and Rafa Benitez, but given the circumstances, Klopp would arguably be the biggest scalp of his managerial career.
“We’re looking forward to another challenge for this team because we want to build this team into one that is worthy of Manchester United’s history and it’s another step if we can win this at home,” continued Solskjaer.
“Because against Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, it was fantastic to win those three away, but now we need to perform at home as well [against Liverpool]."
