Head-To-Head: Liverpool vs Manchester United

Liverpool are challenging Manchester City for the Premier League title, while Manchester United are fighting for fourth. Both will want the three points, but only one can take all the spoils.

Two teams having very different seasons, but funnily enough most people had these two swapped around in terms of success this year. 

Liverpool are pushing to get ahead of Manchester City to win the league title, while Manchester United are fighting for fourth, the final guaranteed Champions League spot.

Both will be looking for all three points, but only one can get them. Who is most likely to come away with the victory?

 

Goals

Liverpool: 79

Manchester United: 52

 

Liverpool have been incredible scorers this year. They rank among the top scoring teams not in the league but in Europe. In the league they are at the top.

United have also been strong scorers, but not as strong as many speculated and that they looked like they could be at the start of the year.

While they are exceeding their xG of 49 goals, it is only by three and with Cristiano Ronaldo on their side, a three goal difference isn't quite living up to people's expectations.

 

xG per 90 minutes

Liverpool: 2.43

Manchester United: 1.53

 

Manchester United's xG per 90 minutes is nothing to put your nose up at. It really is a good rate. But compared to Liverpool, it is nothing.

That's more on Liverpool, though, and it almost feels unfair to compare the two. The Reds have been almost unstoppable in scoring this year. They have scored in all but one of their league games this year, and only five times from their 31 games played have they scored just once.

 

Shots total per 90 minutes

Liverpool: 18.52

Manchester United: 14.09

 

Both sides are in the top five in the league for shots total and shots total per 90 minutes, although United do drop a place from fourth to fifth between those two. Liverpool remains at the top for both, though.

They also remain at the top (or should say joint top) for goals per shot, with that rate coming in at 0.13. United aren’t far off that, though, with their rate of 0.11 being on par with their city rivals, Man City.

 

Shots on target per 90 minutes

Liverpool: 6.35

Manchester United: 4.91

 

Now technically, United have Liverpool beat here. Not for this stat though, obviously, but for their shots on target percentage. Liverpool come in at 34.3%, while United just edge past them with 34.8%.

But Liverpool still earns themselves more shots on target per game, and also have United beat for goals per shots on target, with their rate at 0.37 to United’s 0.31.

 

Goals conceded per 90 minutes

Liverpool: 0.71

Manchester United: 1.37

 

Along with Liverpool's great goal scoring, they have been brilliant defensively this year, too. Only 22 goals conceded this season is the second best in the league, behind Manchester City on 20. So it's not surprising to see them concede on average less than a goal per game.

United haven't been as solid defensively this year. They have exactly double the number of goals conceded as Liverpool, which more than likely would mean they would have double the number of goals conceded per 90 minutes if they hadn't played one extra game.

 

Penalties

Liverpool: 7/8

Manchester United: 2/3 

 

Well there’s a huge difference between these two here.

Depending on who you ask, Liverpool have either been quite lucky with the number of penalties they have received this year, or they are so unstoppable on the attack that the only way to stop them is by fouling them by any means necessary, wherever necessary.

Either way, a fact for both sides is that they are both fairly good at converting their penalties. Only one missed pen each is really good, although it does look a lot better for Liverpool, having attempted eight, than it does United, having attempted just three.

 

Corners per game

Liverpool: 7.26

Manchester United: 5.34

 

With a high number of shots comes a high probability of corners, and that’s what we have here. Both rank within the top 10 for most corners this season, Liverpool in second and United in seventh, so expect the game to feature a number of corners.

As for converting, as usual I couldn’t find the exact stat for number of corners scored, but I can tell you that Liverpool have scored 15 times from set pieces, while United have scored six times from set pieces.

 

Cards

Liverpool: 40 Y, 1 R

Manchester United: 64 Y, 2 R

 

United are [maybe] surprisingly one of the most ill-disciplined teams when it comes to yellow cards. They rank 15th in the league for number of yellow cards received this year, with an average of two yellows per game.

Liverpool, on the other hand, are a lot better. They are second in the league with a rate of 1.29 yellows per game.

As for red cards, there isn’t a single team left in the league without a red card, but interestingly there are the same number of teams with one red card as there are for teams with two (nine).