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Liverpool vs Man Utd injury woes: As Jose Mourinho complains about thinning squad, we compare who's been hit worse

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Getty Images

Jose Mourinho drove home the severity of Manchester United's injury crisis after their defeat to Valencia on Wednesday night.

His side go into Sunday's crunch meeting with Liverpool with nine players on the treatment table, and that after he was forced to name a much-changed side for the trip to Spain.

It means Mourinho may have to play three of the back four who started at the Mestalla, with Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Antonio Valencia in the frame despite being given a torrid time against their Liga opponents.

“We have lots of players that were not here because they are injured,” Mourinho said. “This is our squad, our players, they have a chance to play Sunday.

“Smalling is injured, (Victor) Lindelof is injured, Darmian is injured, Martial is injured, Dalot is injured. The only two players I could bring and didn’t were (David) De Gea and (Nemanja) Matic.

But whose crisis is worse? Indeed, Liverpool themselves are battling several injury problems ahead of the Premier League meeting at Anfield.

The Reds go into the game aiming to preserve their unbeaten start to the campaign and fend off Manchester City's bid to make an immediate return to the summit.

The latest blow - to defender Joel Matip - could even force the Reds into a rethink over their January transfer plans.

Liverpool were not considering entering the market for reinforcements, but a broken collarbone sustained during the win over Napoli has left Matip facing six weeks on the sidelines.

Liverpool injuries

Joe Gomez, Nathaniel Clyne, Dominic Solanke, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, James Milner, Rhian Brewster

Manchester United injuries

Alexis Sanchez, Victor Lindelof, Anthony Martial, Chris Smalling, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, Diogo Dalot, Matteo Darmian, Scott McTominay