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Liverpool hero Virgil van Dijk pinpoints Man Utd weakness ahead of derby showdown
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has mentioned Manchester United’s injury woes ahead of Sunday’s derby at Old Trafford.
Man Utd will struggle to compete with Liverpool says pundit
Liverpool take on Manchester United on Sunday looking to go 18 points above their bitter rivals, and have been boosted by the injury news involving both David de Gea and Paul Pogba.
De Gea was subbed off with a muscle problem during Spain’s eventual draw against Sweden on Tuesday night, while Pogba has been ruled out with the ankle injury that has kept him out of five of United's past seven fixtures.
Virgil van Dijk has now discussed how the injuries could impact their fixture, but outlined his desire to focus on Liverpool.
He told Sky Sports: "For them, it is not the ideal situation to lose your first-choice goalkeeper, one of the best in the world, and one of their main midfielders.
“They will be disappointed but for us, we just want to focus on ourselves.”
The 28-year-old has also given his thoughts on United’s poor run of form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, which sees them sit just two points above the relegation zone after eight games.
He added: ”They want to bounce back for all they've done this season and it's not what they've wanted so far.
“But we want to go out there and extend our points tally and keep winning.
"They're not in the best way, they're not fully confident and they're not in the situation they want to be in.
“But the good thing about football is you can bounce back in any game. They might think this is the best occasion to bounce back from it but we know that.
“We want to go out and fight for every metre on the pitch and try and take the three points back to Liverpool.”
United boss Solskjaer remains positive despite Liverpool’s perfect record in the league this season, and believes his side can achieve a result.
“Sometimes we’ve struggled more in games where we’ve had to break teams down,” he told Sky Sports.
“We’ve had 75 or 80 per cent possession in games and we haven’t been able to create the big chances.
“The Chelsea and Leicester games at home were 50-50 possession, and we’ve had more spaces to attack into.
“I can’t see Liverpool coming to park the bus – that’s just not in their mentality. So I can see it being an open game, which will suit us.”