Saturday 14 October 2017 11:58, UK
Jose Mourinho says he knows Liverpool's side better than he did last season as the Manchester United manager prepares for his side's trip to Anfield, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
United sit second in the table, level on points with their Manchester counterparts City, and travel to Merseyside on Saturday off the back of three wins and 11 goals from their last four league outings.
Meanwhile Liverpool have secured just one victory from their last seven games in all competitions, but Mourinho says he understands the quality within the Reds' squad, saying: "I just know the quality of their players and the qualities of their team.
"Obviously the quality of their team has a relation with the quality of their manager.
"I know that since last season, I know that better now because in the last couple of weeks I tried to analyse them and to study them in a more precise way. I know what they are."
The Red Devils boss says he understands the magnitude of the rivalry between the two teams but claims "every point is the same" with a title chase in mind.
"If a big game is only when you play Manchester City, or Liverpool, or Chelsea, then you have six big games a season," the 54-year-old said.
"The mentality I want with my players is that every match is a big match.
"When you are a big club you want to win titles, you want to win a competition like the Premier League and every match is the same, every point is the same, unless you go into a stage in the season where two or three clubs are fighting for a certain objective.
"Then you can consider, depending on your advantage or disadvantage, you can consider that that result is a result.
"Every match is important, every point is important."
Last season's league meetings between the sides saw a 0-0 draw at Anfield followed by a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, but Liverpool have failed to beat United in six league games since a 3-0 win in 2014.
Mourinho, though, says he is not dwelling on previous results and has endured mixed emotions in previous encounters at the stadium.
"I won big matches at Anfield, I lost big matches at Anfield. I left that stadium so happy, I left that stadium so sad," he added.
"Supporters left that stadium in the direction of a Champions League final and they left devastated because they lost a title, almost in the last game.
"This is football - this is the beauty of football.
"The result can be good or can be bad, but to play there is great. I did that with Chelsea, I did that once with Manchester United, and I hope to play there many times more."
While Mourinho's men are looking to maintain their unbeaten run, the boss says it is possible he could feel content with taking a point back to Manchester, depending on the manner of his team's performance.
"The season is made of moments of ups and downs and you cannot win every match and you have to be strong enough mentally for both sides," he said.
"If you win, you cannot leave and feel like you won the Premier League because you didn't. If you lose, you cannot leave and feel like you are going to be relegated.
"We go to play the game, we want to win the game, we know that is going to be very difficult and sometimes in very difficult matches you get a point and you don't complain.
"It depends on the direction of the match. I drew matches where I was happy and I drew matches where I was not happy."
