Paul Merson has made his prediction for Liverpool vs Manchester United and revealed one reason why Arne Slot’s side “can’t win” the Premier League.

Before the international break, Liverpoolsuffered a poor decline as they lost three straight games against Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea.

During this run, the Reds slipped from the top of the Premier League, and they are behind Arsenal in the table heading into this weekend’s set of fixtures.

Liverpool’s next Premier League match is a big one as they host arch-rivals Manchester United at Anfield.

Ahead of this game, Merson has commented on Liverpool’s recent form after they comfortably were the biggest spending club in Europe in the summer.

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Liverpool mostly focused on reinforcing their attack in the summer as they missed out on Marc Guehi and didn’t sign a new centre-midfielder, with Merson arguing that they “went too top heavy” in the last window. He has also revealed why he thinks they may fail to win the league this term.

“I thought Liverpool fully deserved to get beat by Crystal Palace and Galatasaray. They must get back on track now,” Merson told Sportskeeda.

“All the three Liverpool defeats have come away from home and now they return to Anfield. We all know Liverpool are a different beast on home turf, and Manchester United haven’t been great on their travels!

“I said this before as well, Liverpool went too top heavy in the summer transfer window. People told me Alexander Isak would help Liverpool walk the league.

“But what it has done is, created a confusion inside Arne Slot’s head! It will be at least until December when Slot knows his best team. And if you don’t know your best team, you can’t win the league title!”

However, Merson has also backed one Liverpool summer signing to “cause problems” against Man Utd

“I have a feeling Isak will start this game because of the transfer fee. You just can’t leave him out when you pay that kind of money, can you? If you pay over ￡100 million for players, they have to be in the line-up for the big games and this is one of them,” Merson added.

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“I also think Florian Wirtz is a decent option for this game. Manchester United are not strong in midfield and I wouldn’t be surprised if Slot deploys Wirtz in that no.10 role. I believe Wirtz can cause problems to United too.

“We have to talk about Mohamed Salah as well, he has struggled so far this season. Without Trent Alexander-Arnold, he isn’t the same player.

“When Liverpool had Trent, he was so good on the ball that opponents had to get close to him and always put pressure on him whenever he had the ball. Now that he’s gone, teams are just doubling down on Salah on that flank and giving him no space.”

Merson finished by backing Liverpool to beat Man Utd 2-0 this weekend, with Ruben Amorim’s side to be “lucky” to escape with anything.

“I don’t think Liverpool will lose at home, they will snap out of this run,” Merson continued.

“Manchester United will be lucky if they can walk away with something from Anfield.”