Afternoon all, and welcome to Liverpool v Manchester United!

In the warm-up it looked like United had a back-four warming up together. That'd mean Brandon Williams in front of him, and Daniel James on the right, with Martial up front in numinous solitude.

By playing five at the back, United are giving their wing-backs licence to get forward in the spaces behind Alexander-Arnold and Robertson. Whether United can find them, or get men into the box, is moot.

Oxlade-Chamberlain says it's up to Liverpool to set the tempo in every game, not just at home, but he's wearing a gilet, so.

Liverpool are unbeaten in 51 home games. Not bad.

Neville also says that Daniel James is a good third winger, but not the standard of those Liverpool and City have. That's true, but what he doesn't say is that James is only 21 and has played very few top-level games; of course he's not as good as Mane, Salah and Sterling, but the player we see now is not the player we'll see in two years. Also, he's better on the left than the right, but because the left side is spoken for, he's playing out of position.

Gary Neville puts his finger on the Martial problem: United are frightened to let him go because he's such a talent, but he's still so unreliable. Martial has done pretty well when fit this season - his hold-up play is good and they seriously missed him when he was out - but he really needs to step up now. This is his chance.

When the teams met at Old Trafford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer kept his strikers high and wide when Liverpool had the ball and that was how United scored. The questions here are whether the relative tightness of the Anfield pitch makes that tactic less effective, and whether Anthony Martial is arsed to put in the kind of shift that Marcus Rashford did that day.

The last time United played three at the back, they produced an absolute bazzer of a horror show at Bramall Lane. In the Sk studio, Roy Keane is worried, complaining about Luke Shaw and the "silly hats" he and others are wearing for them warm-up.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he doesn't expect Rashford back for a few weeks when asked directly after downplaying his injury at first. He also says he needs to make the most of the players he has available, and that he has the players to give Liverpool trouble. Course you do sweetheart.

The reason I'm not really talking about Liverpool is that there isn't really very much to say: they're going to win the league by a mile. I guess we could note that so far this season they've won eight games 2-1, which is to say you can't fault their fortitude but they haven't played that well that often. I'd suggest that City's best is better than their best, not that it matters.

I guess United could've played Mata, who has form at Anfield - he's scored once and assisted twice in the last two games - but they can't afford to carry anyone today, and he offers very little in terms of running and tackling. Again, if they'd gone four at the back they could afford him behind the strikers, but he's not really good enough to be given a go in the luxury role.

I've not a clue how United are hoping to create chances today. If they'd gone four at the back, they could have squeezed in an extra attacker. but this looks like an XI to keep it respectable rather than to get a result.

This is great.

Burnley have beaten Leicester 2-1, who've now lost three of their last five. Burnley are now five points clear of the relegation zone.

One plus for United is that Spurs and Arsenal both drew yesterday, while Chelsea lost, so if they lose today - if, when, what's an adverb between friends - it won't cost them anything but shame. The problem is how they cope, or don't cope, with all those injuries.

Bailly has a lot of potential and in theory is a much better partner for Maguire than Lindelof. But he needs to stay fit and either be well coached or extremely focused to stretch to its ceiling.

Klopp is such a scruff.

Elsewhere, Burnley have come from behind to lead Leicester 2-1. You can follow the death throes of that one here.

Oh, and as I forgot to say, Marcus Rashford is also missing - I've been told he's got a stress fracture of the back and will be out until April - or, put another way, you could argue that United are missing their three best players.