Liverpool striker wants to recreate the 7-0 win over Man Utd

Dutch striker Cody Gakpo wants Liverpool to continue their winning streak of 7-0 against Manchester United in the 17th round of the Premier League at Anfield today.

"I scored before the first half ended, and at the start of the second half Darwin and I scored," Gakpo told the British newspaper The Independent on December 16th when asked about last season's 7-0 win against Man Utd. "It was great that Liverpool scored so quickly after the break to finish the game. At times we weren't really looking at the score, just wanting to dominate and show our full potential, and the whole team had a fantastic game. Hopefully we can repeat that tomorrow."

Manchester United traveled to Anfield on March 5, 2023, in fairly good form – eight wins and one loss in 11 matches. On that day, the two teams were evenly matched until Gakpo curled a right-footed shot to open the scoring for the home side in the 43rd minute. Conceding two goals in quick succession at the start of the second half caused Manchester United to collapse and concede four more goals in the remaining time.

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo holds the ball past Raphael Varane during Liverpool's 7-0 Premier League victory over Manchester United at Anfield on March 5, 2023. Photo: Reuters

The 0-7 defeat was Manchester United's biggest loss in their history in the English Premier League. It was also the fourth time Man Utd had suffered a 0-7 defeat in the club's 145-year history, following matches against Wolves in December 1931, Aston Villa in December 1930, and Blackburn Rovers in April 1926.

Ahead of today's rematch at Anfield, Man Utd are under immense pressure after a 0-1 home defeat to Bayern Munich at Old Trafford and sitting bottom of their Champions League group, thus being eliminated from all European competitions. The "Red Devils" have lost 12 of their 24 matches across all competitions this season, have also been knocked out of the League Cup, and are currently sixth in the Premier League, ten points behind leaders Liverpool.

But Gakpo warned Liverpool not to be complacent. He argued that Man Utd are playing well in the Premier League, as evidenced by Erik ten Hag winning Manager of the Month and Harry Maguire winning Player of the Month for November.

"Obviously, Man Utd have a lot of quality players, so we can't underestimate anything, regardless of what stage they're in," the Dutch striker stated. "We can't take them lightly and we have to play in the right style. We also have a lot of quality and we have to continue to show that."

If Liverpool continue to score against Man Utd today, they will set a milestone of 35 consecutive games scoring, breaking the record they set between April and December 2021. "We know we can score in every game and hopefully we can maintain that," Gakpo said. "We need to approach the game with focus and aim for victory."

Liverpool have won all 11 of their home games in all competitions this season, scoring 35 and conceding only seven. Across all competitions, Liverpool are also unbeaten at Anfield since their 2-5 defeat to Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals in February 2023. In the Premier League, the last time Liverpool lost at Anfield was a 1-2 defeat to Leeds in October 2022. Since that loss, Klopp's team have only dropped six points, with 18 wins and three draws.

Liverpool also received a boost as part of the stadium's stands have been upgraded, allowing it to accommodate 57,000 fans for the Man Utd match. This would be the largest attendance at Anfield since April 1973, when 56,202 people watched Bill Shankly's Liverpool draw 0-0 with Leicester.

While playing for PSV, Gakpo was contacted by Man Utd at the end of the 2022 summer transfer window. However, the Old Trafford club only negotiated with PSV after signing Antony from Ajax for $100 million and failed to finalize the deal with Gakpo in the final week of the transfer window.

Six months later, the Dutch striker joined Liverpool for a total fee of $60 million. In 46 appearances for Liverpool across all competitions, Gakpo scored 13 goals and provided five assists.

Hong Duy

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