Clash of the Reds at Old Trafford

THE first English Premier League (EPL) fixture of the weekend is a blockbuster of a match between two old rivals who are, in all honesty, slugging it for the right to be second-best this season.

With Manchester City merrily galloping away to the title - they could be crowned champions on April 7 if they win their next three games - all the attention is now on a four-horse race to see which team gets to be the league's runner-up.

Two of those four clubs in the mix - Manchester United and Liverpool - square off in the North West derby at Old Trafford on Saturday (8.30pm kickoff, Singapore time), with the second-placed Red Devils holding a slender two-point advantage over the team from Merseyside.

These are two of the world's most popular and successful teams, and it's fast shaping up to be an enthralling encounter that could feature a glut of goals at both ends of the pitch.

Fans will certainly be hoping for something much more entertaining than what they had to endure the last time these two teams met in October.

On a dreary day at Anfield, United and Liverpool played out a drab 0-0 draw that was widely panned as being one of the biggest snoozefests of the season.

An ultra-defensive United side managed just one shot on target during the 90 minutes, with Mourinho even blaming Liverpool for not taking the initiative to attack.

Since Mourinho became United's manager in the summer of 2016, he's not yet delivered an EPL victory over Liverpool in three attempts.

All of them have ended in draws, but the sense is that this Saturday's big clash in front of more than 80,000 spectators at Old Trafford promises to be quite different.

Liverpool are in a rich vein of form at the moment, having won four of their last five EPL fixtures, scoring 13 goals and conceding just three. Their attacker-in-chief, the Egyptian hitman Mohamed Salah, has claimed an impressive 24 league goals - the joint-highest alongside Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane - in his maiden season in English football.

The lethal 25-year-old has scored in his last five league matches, and he will surely fancy his chances of adding to that streak.

With Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane chipping in with a total of 21 goals, the Reds' lethal strikeforce will give United's shaky defence all sorts of problems at Old Trafford.

Earlier this week in London, Mourinho cut a frustrated figure on the touchline as he watched his disjointed team fall two goals behind to relegation-threatened Crystal Palace, only to fight back and claim all three points with a dramatic injury-time goal from Nemanja Matic.

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp won't have lost much sleep after watching that United performance, and he will send his troops out at the Theatre of Dreams with the aim of scoring early and forcing United to open up.

If anything, United won't go down in front of their own fans without putting up a good fight. One statistic in their favour is that United have won 27 of 51 EPL meetings with Liverpool, including 15 at Old Trafford.

In Romelu Lukaku, the Red Devils have a powerful striker who's just one goal short of reaching 100 in the EPL.

The mid-season addition of Chilean star Alexis Sanchez has also given a boost to Mourinho's attack, although the former Arsenal midfielder has yet to produce his best form in a United jersey.

One of the contenders for United's player of the season is England international Jesse Lingard, who has netted 13 times already and has developed a knack of scoring wonder goals in important matches.

With so much on the line, both Mourinho and Klopp will be desperate for the three points, as there is also a huge psychological advantage of ending the campaign strongly and raising hopes of giving Manchester City a better challenge next season.

The Citizens will aim to take another big step towards wrapping up the EPL title when they travel to Stoke City next Monday (Tuesday 4am, Singapore time).

Sixth-placed Arsenal, which suffered a shock loss to Brighton last weekend, bounced back in style by defeating AC Milan 2-0 in the Europa League on Thursday.

The Gunners (Arsenal's nickname) will face Watford at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, knowing they can ill-afford another slip-up in the league.

Fifth-placed Chelsea, last season's runaway champions, will have to defeat Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge if they are to have any hope of narrowing the gap on fourth-ranked Tottenham, which play away at Bournemouth on Sunday.