Raphaël Varane’s Manchester United debut and Romelu Lukaku’s desire to show Liverpool what he is made of
Romelu Lukaku’s first eight league games against Liverpool, when he was a much rawer prospect, yielded five goals, with Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho among those buffeted relentlessly and remorselessly by his bulldozing presence. Yet he failed to score in his subsequent seven against the Reds and it’s eight and a half years since his only goal at Anfield – a fine effort for West Brom while on loan during his first time under Chelsea’s umbrella. Thomas Tuchel is the man delighted to be holding the handle this time around, however, though Virgil van Dijk offers as stern a challenge as can be provided when it comes to strutting your “I’m the finished article” stuff. Chelsea won the equivalent fixture in March, resigning Liverpool to their worst ever run of home losses, but with Jürgen Klopp’s side in better nick now, will the Belgian prove the difference between two well-matched sides? SG