United's Monday meetings with Liverpool

Saturday 20 August 2022 07:00

Manchester United and Liverpool are two of the biggest names in English football and there is little this storied rivalry hasn’t seen over the years.

The upcoming Premier League clash will be the 210th meeting between the sides, but only the ninth league game to take place on a Monday.

Of course, Monday night football has only really come into fashion over the last 30 years or so, mainly thanks to Sky Sports and their popular debate show centring around the game, which digests all the talking points from the Saturday and Sunday fixtures.

How to watch and follow United v Liverpool

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A meeting with our arch-rivals awaits the Reds at Old Trafford on Monday evening.

Prior to the advent of the Premier League, Monday matches were really restricted to the Easter and festive holidays.

The Easter Monday meeting in April 1953 was the first to take place on this day of the week, with Stan Pearson, Jack Rowley and Johnny Berry scoring in a 3-1 home win.

Liverpool won at Old Trafford on consecutive Easter periods, in 1971 and 1972, as United began to decline from our late ‘60s pomp.

There was a new year clash, on Monday 2 January 1984, and it was a memorable one as Norman Whiteside struck in the dying stages at Anfield to cancel out Craig Johnston’s opener.

That was a feisty encounter, with the Merseysiders’ Kenny Dalglish suffering a fractured cheekbone, as a result of an aerial clash with defender Kevin Moran.

Peter Davenport was the hero three years later, as he curled home an 88th-minute winner to strike a fatal blow to Liverpool’s fading title hopes.

The next Easter saw arguably one of the most exciting United versus Liverpool games ever, at Anfield.

Gordon Strachan in action during 1988's 3-3 thriller.

Bryan Robson opened the scoring after three minutes but our rivals looked to be coasting to victory when Steve McMahon netted soon into the second half, following earlier goals from Peter Beardsley and Gary Gillespie.

Despite being down to 10 men after Colin Gibson's red card, Robbo and Gordon Strachan answered back and the score finished 3-3 – helping United maintain our very good record against a then-dominant Liverpool. We lost just two of 20 top-flight clashes during the 1980s.

All six aforementioned matches took place in the old First Division, prior to the creation of the Premier League in 1992.

United 2 Liverpool 1 Video

United 2 Liverpool 1

20 September 2004: An unusual goal source popped up twice to secure this win over our Merseyside rivals...

Since then, despite there being plenty of midweek classics - 3-3 and 2-2 draws at Anfield in the ‘90s spring to mind - we’ve only played Liverpool twice on a Monday night, once at Old Trafford and once on Merseyside.

Mikael Silvestre was at the double in 2004, on a night best remembered for Rio Ferdinand’s long-awaited return following his suspension for missing a drugs test, while the first United v Liverpool fixture with Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp in the dugouts ended 0-0, in October 2016.

Let’s hope Monday’s game provides a little more excitement, and a home win, as United seek our first points of the season.

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