Why Man Utd vs Liverpool kick off was moved as Reds eye Champions League boost

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Manchester United's Premier League game against fierce rival Liverpool has an unusual kickoff time on Sunday, falling between the usual 2pm and 4.30pm BST kickoff slotsManchester United hosts Liverpool on Sunday(Image: 2026 Allstar)Liverpool goes to Manchester United this weekend aiming for a fourth successive Premier League victory, which could be enough to mathematically guarantee Champions League qualification for next term.The Reds won all three of its top-flight games in April – earning Arne Slot a manager of the month nomination – and now have an eight-point cushion inside the top five with just four league games remaining.The game against United kicks off at the unusual time of 3.30pm BST/10:30am ET (kick-off times on Sundays in England are ordinarily 2pm and 4.30pm).No official reason has been given for the unconventional kick-off time, but it has been reported that the start of the game was brought forward an hour for security purposes.READ MORE: Liverpool told to target Premier League transfer for $41M ace who is like Ibrahima KonateREAD MORE: Andy Robertson advised to join Liverpool rival in controversial transfer moveUnited versus Liverpool is the most historic rivalry in English soccer, and rivalries of such magnitude often carry with them a heightened risk of fan trouble around games.United is aiming to record a league double over Liverpool for the first time during the 2015-16 season, and goes into the game three points and one place above the Reds in the league table."I think last season when we played them, they were not in the same league position as they are now," Arne Slot said in his pregame press conference."Then, I also said that their players are much better than the league position shows and another time, another transfer window adding a lot of players and that has resulted, I would almost say finally, in that we now see how good their players are, in terms of looking at the league table."We always knew that they were really good, but now they are also showing it in the league table."It might be a bit of an advantage that they only play once a week. But as I said, when we played them every single time, I saw before we played, in the lead-up to the game, analysing them, how good they are.Liverpool is aiming to avoid losing both league games to Manchester United for the first time since 2015-16(Image: Gareth Copley, Getty Images)"And every time we played, I felt the same.

And now they have become, especially under Michael Carrick, more consistent in their results."On the importance of the final result for Liverpool's season, Slot said: "I think it’s always like that, every game you play has influence on your league position. So that’s not only when you play Man United, it’s every week in every game."But we are aware of the fact that it’s a very big game, not only because we play Man United, but definitely also to qualify for the Champions League and to get the highest possible position in the league table, which of course is something we want."We wanted to, of course, win the league.

And then you have to try to end up as high as possible, and that’s what we are trying week in, week out, and that’s what we’re going to try Sunday again as well."