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Carrick relishes Liverpool clash

Manchester United kicked off a mammoth month of March with a 3-0 away win over West Brom but now the tension is ramped up with a run of home games that takes in league clashes with Liverpool and Manchester City, sandwiching the Champions League last-16 second leg against Olympiacos.



"It's a big month ahead, we're well aware of that,” Michael Carrick told ManUtd.com after helping the Reds to beat the Baggies on Saturday. “It’s Liverpool next and that's a big one. Regardless of where both teams are in the league it’s an important fixture.

“In recent times, with this rivalry, we’ve been on top of them in the league and it's the other way around at the moment. But I don’t think league places affect the game. We’d say it if we’re top of the table that form goes out of the window against Liverpool, it counts for very little, and that’s the case now. It should be a good game and we’re all looking forward to it.”

United’s performance against West Brom brought with it plenty of promise – a display which combined a solid defensive foundation with good possession play and, crucially, the taking of chances when they arose. That followed on from a solid display against Crystal Palace in the league, with Carrick describing the subsequent 2-0 defeat to Olympiacos as an anomaly, not the norm.

“I know we’ve had an up and down season but I think performance-wise in recent times we’ve been pretty good," Carrick told us. "That Olympiacos game was a bit of a shock to everyone and afterwards we just wanted to get back to where we were. I thought we did that against West Brom, so we need to build on that now."

Two players who were crucial in the victories over Crystal Palace and West Brom are still relatively new additions to the squad – Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini. Mata’s wand of a left foot inspires creativity in attacking areas, while Fellaini is beginning to prove to be the midfield minder he was brought in to be. Both men could play in their first United-Liverpool fixture this coming Sunday, introducing them to a rivalry like few others in the English game.

“Juan and Marouane both did really well against West Ham,” said Carrick. “That’s two league games in a row now in which they’ve both performed well – Palace and now West Brom. But while they did well individually, I thought collectively, as a team, we looked really dangerous going forward.

“The performance against West Brom was better than the one at Palace, so that's something we have to take forward into some big games in this important month.”