As the Red Devils look to get back to winning ways, Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has expressed his feelings about taking on Liverpool this weekend.

The Dutchman is no stranger to the Reds, having managed the team at Old Trafford for two years, but Sunday’s matchup presents a new challenge in the form of Arne Slot, who has started his Reds career with two wins out of two perfectly matched games.

In fact, the two managers have already come face-to-face during the 45-year-old’s short Anfield career, having watched their sides compete in a pre-season friendly in the United States earlier this month.

Goals from Fabio Carvalho, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas secured a comfortable 3-0 victory for Liverpool in Columbia, South Carolina, and that was without a host of first-team regulars who were away on extended summer breaks.

But following a summer spend of more than $263million (£200m/€238m) on five players, including add-ons, Man United appear in a much stronger position this time around – and Ten Hag is relishing the challenge of taking three points off his countryman.

“We are really looking forward to competing with them,” he said in Friday’s press conference. “We have a good squad, we can bring a good team out. We have to improve, we have new players to integrate. We are looking forward to this game.”

United has spent big on Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Deadline Day signing Manuel Ugarte, although only Zirkzee, De Ligt and Mazraoui will be available to feature against the Reds.

Sunday’s Northwest derby will be the second meeting between Erik ten Hag and Arne Slot since the latter took over at Liverpool this summer

Ten Hag’s side is also coming off the back of an injury-time defeat to Brighton last weekend, having won the opening game of the Premier League season the previous week against Fulham, securing a 1-0 victory.

Now, the Red Devils will be desperate to return to winning ways against their visitors, although Liverpool is full of confidence following back-to-back 2-0 victories over Ipswich and Brentford to start the Slot era.

New summer signing Federico Chiesa has joined from Juventus for a cut-price fee, but even he may not be available to feature, so it could be an unchanged lineup for Slot from last weekend’s success over Brentford.

But Liverpool’s players will be desperate to avoid a repeat of their Old Trafford nightmares from last season, when they lost 4-3 in the FA Cup in March before drawing 2-2 in the league in April to see their quadruple hopes fade in a matter of weeks.