Jurgen Klopp has said that Manchester United have ‘turned into a results machine’ having only lost one game since early November.
But the Liverpool manager added that league positions don’t matter for Sunday’s Anfield clash against the Red Devils.
United have see their fortunes transformed since Erik Ten Hag took charge at the start of the season. Beating Newcastle United in last weekend’s Carabao Cup final saw the club lift their first trophy in six years.
The Old Trafford side are comfortable sitting third in the Premier League table, 10 points ahead of Liverpool who head into the weekend in sixth place and six points behind fourth placed Tottenham but with a game in hand.
The Liverpool manager spoke highly of the Reds’ fierce rivals but says their success is not all down to the manager.
Klopp said: “Go through their team, how could they not be good? They’re experienced, they have quality, and a good way of playing.
“Of course it’s influenced by Ten hag as well, but when my players play well it’s not that I feel ‘Oh I did that.’”
Klopp singled out United striker Marcus Rashford who has been in a rich vein of form lately. The number 10 has scored five goals in 13 appearances against Liverpool, none of which were scored away from the Theatre of Dreams.
Klopp said that despite it being difficult for a Liverpool manager to be happy about something good at Old Trafford, he’s happy for the player:
“Rashford is in the form of his life,” said Klopp.
“He’s had a difficult last year where he wasn’t performing on the level he was able to perform at. I knew this would change, but sometimes in life you don’t have time to change it. Now he’s playing incredible.”
Three points this weekend could push Liverpool up to fifth in the table, if results go their way. Klopp said this would be a massive boost for the squad, but it’ll be a tough game against an in-form United so they can’t act as if it’s already happened.
The German manager said that, up until now, there have been no injuries picked from the 2-0 midweek win against Wolves. Out of the three injured players (Thiago, Luis Diaz and Joe Gomez) Klopp confirmed Gomez is the closest to returning, but still not close enough.
After winning at Wembley last weekend, Man United are on the hunt for an elusive quadruple – much like Klopp and his Liverpool side were last year.
He said: “They’ve just won the League Cup final, which is a wonderful feeling. But then you realise that you have no time to celebrate because you have to play a few days later. So you have to play again, and again, and again.”
Liverpool versus Manchester United kicks off at 16:30 (GMT) on Sunday and will be shown on Sky Sports.
