{"id":85386,"date":"2025-10-16T23:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T23:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/85386\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T23:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T23:46:09","slug":"paul-merson-believes-liverpool-star-will-be-key-vs-manchester-united-as-he-delivers-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/85386\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Merson believes Liverpool star will be key vs Manchester United as he delivers prediction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool vs Manchester United is a game on the football calendar that fans always look forward to.<\/p>\n

The Reds are currently in a poor run of form heading into this clash with United, losing their last three games in a row before the international break began.<\/p>\n

While it may be a troubling time for Arne Slot<\/a>, it is not as bad as the situation Ruben Amorim<\/a> finds himself in, being in charge of the Red Devils following his 15th-place finish last season and lack of consistent form.<\/p>\n

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These factors have made predictions difficult and especially choosing players who are likely to step up for their teams to deliver a result, but Paul Merson<\/a> thinks he knows Liverpool\u2019s<\/a> key man.<\/p>\n

The former Arsenal midfielder has been critical of the recent form of the club and some of their players; however, the Englishman has surprisingly highlighted Florian Wirtz<\/a> as the player to be the focal point in a potential victory for the home side.<\/p>\n

\"FlorianPhoto by Gaspafotos\/MB Media\/Getty ImagesPaul Merson says Florian Wirtz is key to Liverpool\u2019s success<\/p>\n

Wirtz was bought from Bayer Leverkusen for \u00a3116 million in the summer after being touted as one of the best talents in world football, even though he has yet to produce what his hype has sold fans.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old is still adapting to the Premier League and a standout showing is on its way sooner or later, with Merson believing the United game is exactly what he needs to prove himself.<\/p>\n

Writing for Sportskeeda<\/a>, the pundit explained how Slot should place the German in the No. 10 role to \u2018cause problems\u2019 for this Amorim side as a creative focal point.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cI have a feeling Isak will start this game because of the transfer fee. You just can\u2019t leave him out when you pay that kind of money, can you? If you pay over \u00a3100 million for players, they have to be in the line-up for the big games and this is one of them. I also think Florian Wirtz is a decent option for this game.<\/p>\n

\u201cManchester United are not strong in midfield and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if Slot deploys Wirtz in that no.10 role. I believe Wirtz can cause problems to United too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Merson predicts a Liverpool win vs Manchester United<\/p>\n

It is a game that the Reds should handily win on paper, given the talent in their side and the problems that United have displayed throughout the season, but it does not mean the Mancunian club do not have a chance.<\/p>\n

However, at Anfield, it will be very difficult to beat them, as United fans will know, given they have struggled to win at the ground in nine years.<\/p>\n

Merson is convinced that it will be a routine one for the Merseyside giants, predicting, surprisingly, a clean sheet.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cI don\u2019t think Liverpool will lose at home; they will snap out of this run. Manchester United will be lucky if they can walk away with something from Anfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrediction: Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans can only hope for an improved performance from the Reds, given the fact that they have struggled to look at their best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool vs Manchester United is a game on the football calendar that fans always look forward to. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7573,42,43,26943,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-85386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-florian-wirtz","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-paul-merson","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}