Manchester United will try to shut down City but we are in for a cracker... and if Luke Shaw keeps his form going he will not be held back for long - TACKLE KEOWN

That's all from Tackle Keown for this week.

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Tottenham sent a real message by beating Real Madrid, Liverpool are scoring goals for fun — I don’t think any team in Europe will be looking forward to playing an English side.

Manchester City are unbeaten in the Premier League and are striving for excellence. But history shows you do not need to be the best team in your country to win the Champions League.

Look at Liverpool in 2005, who finished fifth in the Premier League that season some 37 points behind champions Chelsea. That is why this competition is so exciting.

Could it be that, come May, Manchester City are Premier League champions but looking on in envy at Liverpool, the champions of Europe?

Last season, we talked about the Premier League having the best managers. Now, we are seeing the players and teams to match.

There is the mouthwatering prospect of all five English clubs reaching the quarter-finals. If that happens, we could well have an all-English final.

Liverpool to win this 3-0. As I have said, it’s going to be about damage limitation for Everton.

Sammy has coached at clubs up and down the country and will be professional when going back to Anfield on Sunday.

The most important thing is that Big Sam trusts him. You’ve got to have those people you can turn to.

I worked with Sammy when he was an England coach under Sven Goran Eriksson.

He is a real worker and won’t be thinking about this too much.

I think this is going to be a damage-limitation job for Sam Allardyce.

Jurgen Klopp has said that Liverpool’s attacking football is some of the best he has seen at any club where he has worked.

You have the breathtaking pace of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, the intelligent, gifted Roberto Firmino up top and Philippe Coutinho linking it all together.

This is the first time they have had a regular run of games together and they are really quite brilliant.

The likes of Michael Keane, Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams have struggled in one-v-one situations — and these Liverpool forwards will isolate you.

Does Allardyce use Mason Holgate, who is a bit quicker? Or does he play a back five to deal with it?

If Everton leave any space for Liverpool to run into, they will be punished.

An entertaining 2-2 draw.

He was outstanding. We saw it with Henrikh Mkhitaryan last season — you sometimes have to wait a long time to fall back into favour with Mourinho.

I was really pleased for Shaw on Tuesday. I have known he was a great talent since watching him aged 16 against Reading Under 23s!

Where he excels is playing with freedom, knocking it and going. He stopped doing that under Louis van Gaal.

Ashley Young will have watched Shaw’s performance against CSKA Moscow with trepidation. Young has done incredibly well this season but if Shaw keeps this going, he will not be held back for long.

All of this is good news for Manchester United. It makes them stronger.

When Herrera plays, he is there to be a nuisance. He can be quite infuriating. 

I feel he is either getting booked or trying to get someone else booked!

Herrera is the teacher’s pet for Mourinho and if he plays, he will be on a mission of some sort.

United will try to get around Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva whenever possible and Herrera may share that role with another.

All Manchester United’s results point to the fact that they miss him.

He creates another number in the final third for United which is so important.

If someone like Ander Herrera comes into midfield to replace Pogba, United will not have that same impact.

It is crucial that they have a threat of some sort from midfield.

I don’t think he will. Chelsea set up with a three against City earlier in the season and Guardiola totally exploited the weaknesses of that system.

Fabian Delph and Kyle Walker were underlapping full backs, flooding the midfield to prevent Chelsea from getting on the ball. City’s wide players pinned Chelsea’s full backs to push them into a back five.

For United to have the best chance of gaining possession, they would be best suited playing a back four.

But if you want to know what system Mourinho will play, just watch what United do as they are warming up before Sunday’s game.

Their shape always becomes obvious in the pre-match warm-up!

People say that if City lose, it doesn’t matter. But how brittle is the confidence of City’s players? How will a defeat affect them?

During the Invincible season at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger was quite concerned about the prospect of us losing. He did not want us to lose direction as a result.

Pep Guardiola will not be taking too much notice of last night’s defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk but it did expose some weaknesses.

Guardiola may have regretted playing Ederson as Manchester United will have seen that he was at fault for both goals.

I remember going to Shakhtar in a similar dead rubber. We lost, and I was scratching my head as to why I was there.

Fernandinho and Leroy Sane, who both played last night, will have had the Manchester derby on their minds.

It is also a very long way to travel and that can take a lot out of you. I never felt long-haul flights were great for muscular recovery.

Jose Mourinho will try to shut down the game but that does not mean we are in for a boring encounter.

Mourinho may see the victory over Arsenal as one of his most perfect performances. Not just because of his rivalry with Arsene Wenger, but because of how his team executed their plan.

They pressed high, won the ball back well and packed a punch on the break.

At the Emirates, Mourinho sent a message to Pep Guardiola that United are still pushing City for this title.

United will try to break as they did against Arsenal, but City will then look to exploit United when they do.

For this reason, I think we are in for a cracker.