Premiership
Anfield Road
Sunday, 16 December; KO: 13:30 BST

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Premiership Table:


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BIG-MATCH FACTS



make their seventh attempt to notch a 50th league victory over



A draw would be enough to see Manchester United climb above Arsenal to the top of the table, ahead of the Gunners' home game with Chelsea
which kicks off less than 45 minutes after the final whistle of this game is blown;
victory for Liverpool will half their six-point deficit on the Red Devils.


This is the second of three massive fixtures in eight days for the Merseysiders, following Tuesday's decisive 0-4 Champions League win over Marseilles in France,
and ahead of Wednesday's Carling Cup quarter-final at Chelsea.


suffered a shock loss, away to Reading last Saturday,
and are in danger of their first back-to-back defeats in 17 Premier League matches.

Both these clubs are meeting a fellow member of the "big four" for the third time this season, and both are unbeaten:


beat Chelsea 2-0 at home on 23 September

Club stats
fixtures

KEY PLAYER NOTES





Fernando TORRES
is Liverpool's top scorer with 12 goals.



TORRES and Steven GERRARD
are the clubs' joint top Premier League marksmen with six goals each.

Goalkeeper Jose REINA is the only remaining player to have been on the field for every minute of every one of Liverpool's
Premier League matches this season.

REINA leads the race for the Barclays Golden Glove, keeping nine clean sheets.







Cristiano RONALDO
is Manchester United's top scorer with 14 goals.


RONALDO is also their leading Premier League marksman with nine.
He jointly leads the race for the Barclays Golden Boot, alongside Arsenal's Emmanuel ADEBAYOR.

Rio FERDINAND is the only remaining player to have started all of Manchester United's Premier League matches this season.

If on the field from the outset:-

Chris EAGLES will be making his 50th club league start (Manchester United, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday).

Long term injury, Gary NEVILLE will be making his 350th Premier League start for Manchester United.

HEAD TO HEAD

0:1
3 March 2006
Attendance: 44403
Ref: M Atkinson (W. Yorkshire)
Manchester United scorers: O'Shea 90

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Players Quotations


Quote:

Originally Posted by Javier Mascherano, Liverpool I got a kick [against Marseille] but I think it's nothing and I should be okay to face Manchester United. We're close to the top so we need to win on Sunday to get even closer, plus it's very important for our fans that we win. Liverpool against United is a massive game, maybe the biggest there is in England, so we have to start preparing for it. We know we can win and our confidence is obviously high as well. When you win 4-0 away it's very good for the team and now we need a repeat of this performance on Sunday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Rooney, Manchester United Liverpool away is a massive game for us. It's probably the biggest match of the season for us. It's not going to decide the title because it's still early in the season but obviously it's a match we really want to win.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yossi Benayoun, Liverpool It's a crucial game for us because we want to get closer to the top of the table and I'm sure we have the quality to win. Hopefully, that's what will happen. The Premier League is very competitive this year. There's a lot of good teams like Arsenal, United and Chelsea but I believe we also have a chance of winning it and we'll fight to the end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Louis Saha,Manchester United We're not at home but it's a good chance to show how strong we are. When you win these games it gives you confidence and it has a big impact. I think last year the Liverpool win [1-0 at Anfield on 3 March] kicked us on to the title. That game showed everyone that we were strong enough to go all the way so there's still a long way to go. December is a big month for us so it will be hard, but we have as strong a side as we had last season so I think we can go all the way.