The Best of Red – Liverpool or Manchester United?

Two of the biggest teams – and one of the biggest rivalries in the history of the Premier League is between arguably the two most famous red teams in the world, Liverpool and Manchester United. This also makes it one of the most hotly anticipated fixtures in the whole Premier League. Every season is the same, with fans from across England, the UK and the world tuning into the fixture – and football betting fans looking to put money on who they think will come out on top this time. Manchester Utd now boasts one of the best players in football history, Cristiano Ronaldo – but he is opposed by some of the sport’s hottest properties right now in the shape of Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane, Allison Becker and Van Dyck.

Anyone interested in betting on football will certainly want to know a little bit about their shared history – and look to see which of the Liverpool versus Man United odds offer the best value. Currently, in terms of the most recent history, Liverpool will most certainly go in as favourites – but what about the past?

HEAD TO HEAD STATS

If you go all the way back to the very start of top league football, then this is Manchester United’s win. In head to head matches, Manchester United have won 89 compared to Liverpool’s 79 wins – with 68 draws recorded to date. However, this dates back to 1894. If you look at the ten most recent games between the two teams, then Liverpool has won four times, Manchester United has won just twice and there have been four draws. The last time they faced off, Liverpool smashed Manchester United 5-0 at the Old Trafford.

Manchester United’s men haven’t been able to beat Liverpool in the Premier League since March 2018 – although they did manage an FA Cup Victory in January 2021.

TITLES WON

If you are comparing top league titles – dating back to way before the start of the Premier League in 1992, then there isn’t a great deal of difference between the two. However, again, historically Manchester United also has a slight advantage on this front as well. The Mancunians have won the league title a total of 20 times, with Liverpool trailing slightly – with 19. Having said that, with their last league win being in 2019/20, they have been the most recent winners.

In terms of domination, these two have been the strongest throughout history. While it was Liverpool that was the dominant force in the seventies and eighties, Manchester United soared to the top in the nineties and noughties – which may have had a little something to do with Sir Alex Ferguson.

At the start of the Premier League – in the 1992-93 season, it was Liverpool that strode out in front… They had eighteen titles compared to Manchester United’s seven league wins. However, the club appointed Sir Alex Ferguson (or plain old Alex Ferguson as he was then) and things turned around swiftly. Ferguson led his team to eight wins in the first eleven seasons. By 2010-11, they ended up not only catching up with their scouse rivals but even overtaking them. However, Liverpool pulled one back by storming the 2019-20 season, winning with seven games to spare. There is now just one title in it…

TEAM WIN RATES

These two teams are also the squads that currently lead the way in terms of win rates. However, again it is Manchester United that just about pips Liverpool to the post with a win ratio of 48% to the Scouse team’s 47.2%.

The teams that follow these two are Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Leeds and Manchester City. Although the win ratio may be higher for Manchester United, it is actually Liverpool that has secured the most wins. Up until the end of 2021, Liverpool had managed 1993 wins compared to 1853 wins by the Manchester United team. With Liverpool also being the team on better form, this is unlikely to change any time in the near future.

THE REDS IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE ERA

The start of the Premier League wasn’t always good to Liverpool – and they didn’t have a lot of success in the first 29 years. In fact, in all of those years, they have only managed to finish above the Man United squad five times – and four of these five times was after 2013 – and the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Since Fergie retired, it’s fair to say that the team’s performance has dropped – below that of Liverpool’s. In fact, since Ferguson left, Manchester United has won only the fifth-highest point score in the league, falling behind Tottenham Hotspurs, Chelsea, Liverpool and their Manchester rivals, Man City.

In 2004, when we look at average points per game, Manchester United was doing well – managing over 2 points on average per game. However, when Moyes took charge of the club they dropped to a 1.39 PPG average, which was as low as they had been for some time. At that same time, in 2020, Liverpool was peaking.

There is nothing to call between these red teams. Historically, Man U just about pips Liverpool, but the Scousers are most definitely the ones to watch right now.