Virgil van Dijk insists Liverpool aren’t expecting a similar outcome this evening after being left surprised by their thrashing of Manchester United earlier in the season.
United head to Anfield tonight as they look to close the gap on Tottenham in their race for a top-four finish. Their credentials will come under major scrutiny though as they come up against Jurgen Klopp’s juggernauts.
Liverpool remain in the hunt for a historic quadruple this season, having beaten Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. They will go top of the league for at least 24 hours if they can claim at least a point against United.
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They’ll be strong favourites to claim all three though, with Klopp’s side having shown they are far ahead of their old rivals. That was never made more evident than during the sides’ last meeting back in October.
Liverpool blew away United with a 5-0 victory at Old Trafford in what proved to be one of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s final games in charge. With Ralf Rangnick at the helm now, few expect them to fare much better.
Van Dijk though insists the Reds were as shocked as anyone else by the ease with which they beat their rivals earlier in the season. The defender expects United to pose a tougher test this time around as they chase down a top-four finish.
“The games that we played over there were always going to be tough, but to come away with 5-0 quite easy and simple was not what we all expected before the game,” Van Dijk told Sky Sports. “But that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy it as much as we should.
“That game is out of the way. They made changes after that game so they're in a different mental state at the moment. They're trying to get top four, build towards next season a little bit and we're trying to focus on ourselves and doing everything possible to do it."
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