The Double: Can Michael Carrick complete what no Manchester United manager has done in a decade?

Sunday’s clash at Old Trafford carries the weight of a derby, a top-four battle and a pair of managerial futures all at once. United go in sitting third, Liverpool fourth, separated by just three points with five games to play.

Michael Carrick has driven the Premier League’s second-half turnaround story but can he cap it by completing a feat no one has managed in ten years?

And with Arne Slot’s position at Anfield still quietly unresolved, both dugouts have plenty riding on 90 minutes that already had enough on the line.

A decade without the double for Manchester United and a chance to break it

The last time Manchester United won a league game at Anfield was January 2016, when Wayne Rooney grabbed the only goal in a 1-0 victory. That same season, Liverpool lost at Old Trafford too, making 2015/16 the last campaign in which they did the double over their fiercest rivals.

Liverpool had not lost to United at Anfield in ten meetings before United’s win there in October 2025, winning five and drawing five across that stretch. United ended that particular hoodoo in October with a 2-1 victory, still under Ruben Amorim at the time.

The win at Anfield is in the bank. Now the reverse fixture arrives at Old Trafford, and with it a question no United manager has been able to answer in ten years: can they win both? United have beaten Liverpool only twice in the Premier League since 2018 in all.

Liverpool, for their part, have completed the double over United multiple times in recent memory, most brutally in 2021/22 and 2022/23, seasons that included a 5-0 at Old Trafford and the infamous 7-0 at Anfield.

However, with United third on 61 points and Liverpool fourth on 58, bragging rights extend well beyond sentiment here. A United win would put five points between the sides with four games remaining and go a long way to securing that third-place finish.

Michael Carrick’s audition and Arne Slot’s reckoning

Carrick returned to Old Trafford in January 2026, and has since led United to wins over Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Brentford in a run that has transformed the club’s season.

He has overseen one defeat in ten games including seven wins, giving United a strong platform for Champions League qualification. United have taken more points than any other Premier League team since Carrick was appointed and yet the job is still not his.

The club won’t make a final decision until the end of the season, with names including Luis Enrique and Andoni Iraola still being tracked. Reports suggest Jim Ratcliffe wants an alpha personality and Carrick’s character may not perfectly fit what the co-owner typically looks for.

Completing a double not seen since 2016, would make that argument considerably harder to sustain. On the other side, Liverpool’s ownership ideally want to stick with Slot. Doubts over his position are subsiding rapidly as Champions League qualification comes into view.

But a formal end-of-season review is scheduled for late May and Slot’s position is not considered entirely secure even if European football is secured. Especially, given the level of expectation that came with Liverpool’s summer spending.

Losing this fixture to United, allowing the gap to grow to five points and handing the bragging rights of a completed double to the rivals, would be a damaging way to arrive at that review. For both managers, Sunday matters far beyond the table.