Liverpool vs Manchester United: We know what this match means – Ox

Liverpool’s English midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is well aware of the significance of the fixture against Manchester United.

Heading into Sunday’s match, 27 points seperate the bitter rivals but Liverpool will not be underestimating Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team.

United remain the only side to deny the red-hot Liverpool outfit victory in the Premier League this season.

Liverpool vs Manchester United about more than bragging rights

Oxlade Chamberlain insisted that the players had to show that the encounter means more to them than any old league encounter but also stressed that Jurgen Klopp’s side would be hunting another three points.

“Of course, it’s massive. There’s a lot of history in this fixture,” Oxlade-Chamberlain told Liverpoolfc.com.

“Bragging rights are always nice, but at the end of the day, the main thing is making sure your team is more successful than the other – picking up results, finishing higher in the table and doing as well as you can as a club.

“For us as players, you can’t not get drawn into the meaning of it to the fans because they’re the people that support you all year round. So, we buy into that and as a player you sort of take on that rivalry and it becomes your own rivalry as well.

“It means a lot to us as players as well and how much it means to the fans, we take responsibility of that and making sure we can get the right result for them and for us as well.”

The England midfielder said that the Liverpool squad were collectively relishing the prospect of welcoming the Red Devils to Anfield.

“These are the games you all really look forward to,” continued Oxlade-Chamberlain.

“They’re the ones that tend to be the hardest, obviously the quality of the opposition, how big a club they are, and obviously the meaning for the fans and what this means to this club. To be fair, both clubs obviously.

“As a fixture it adds a little bit more heat to the game. All of that combined, it’s obviously a big game. They’re the ones you look for and want to step up in and prove yourself and have a good game and get the right result.

“If they come early in the season, they’re the kind of games that you think, ‘Right, we can make a statement here and get the ball rolling and find a bit of momentum.’ That’s what you look for.

“The situation we are in now, it’s another big test for us to prove ourselves again and keep the momentum going. We’ve done really well to get ourselves in this position and this is another really big challenge for us to overcome and keep pushing in the right direction.”

The greatest rivalry in football