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Manchester United do not need to use Liverpool's impending title win as motivation to end their own wait to lift the Premier League trophy, according to Juan Mata. Jurgen Klopp's side are 14 points clear at the top with a game in hand and look set to win their first top-flight title for 30 years. - ESPN Premier League fantasy: Sign up now!
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- When does the transfer window close? United have not been crowned champions since 2013 but Mata said the desire to return to the top is not fuelled by Liverpool's success. "I think the motivation has to be inner motivation from us," Mata said. "When you play for this club, you have be motivated to play every single game and fighting for every trophy we can play for. "So I think that's the way the manager thinks too, which is focusing on ourselves and trying to improve ourselves. "Obviously, if someone is doing very well, okay, but I would prefer to motivate myself and ourselves from within, which I think is better in the long-term." United head to Anfield looking for their first away win over Liverpool since 2016 while last season's 3-1 defeat on Merseyside was Jose Mourinho's last game in charge. Mata knows what it takes to win at Anfield after scoring twice in a 2-1 win in March 2015, including a spectacular overhead kick that United supporters still stop him in the street to talk about. "If you score at Anfield, it's hard for United fans to forget about that," Mata said. "It was a very special day for all of us [in 2015] for me personally. "Scoring two goals at Anfield is always going to be very special and it was always going to be remembered, like the fans remember the Diego Forlan goal or the John O'Shea one at Anfield. "So it's a memory that I cherish, but you have to move on and luckily I've also scored other goals. It's not just those two! But it's always special for the fans." Mata has not been a regular for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side this season but he may have played his way into the team at Anfield. The 31-year-old set up goals for Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in the 4-0 win over Norwich before scoring the winner against Wolves on Wednesday and he could get the nod again on Sunday as United look to become the first team to beat Liverpool this season having held them to a draw at Old Trafford in October. "It's been a good couple of days for me, first because I was playing and secondly because I was enjoying it on the pitch, finding a good level, helping my team with assists and also a goal," Mata said. "So it's been a good couple of days, but also for the team I would say, because the performance last weekend against Norwich was good. Against Wolves it was a bit more difficult, but we managed to win, two clean sheets, and personally I'm happy with the past few days."
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