Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of Manchester United versus Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Teams from Old Trafford will follow shortly.

A free kick for Liverpool here, right on the left edge of the area as McTominay clips Firmino. A chance for Alexander-Arnold here...

Tails up here for Liverpool, as Jones unloads low from 25 yards out but it's straight at Henderson.

After a promising start Solskjaer won't be chuffed with that. It was a slick turn from Firmino, but one simple pass folded United's defence completely.

Just like that, Liverpool are ahead! Firmino gets the ball in the whole between United's midfield and back four. He slide rules a simple ball between Maguire and Shaw to Salah in the area, who takes one touch and dinks the ball softly over the diving Henderson.

Cavani has started well and frees Rashford up on the left. He's one-on-one with Williams momentarily, but Alexander-Arnold does well to get back and put the ball out for a corner.

Cavani wins the ball on halfway and suddenly United are breaking on Liverpool. He finds Greenwood on the right, who throws five stepovers around the ball before slashing a shot well wide of the near post.

Van de Beek gets away down the right now, but checks back rather than take on Fabinho and another promising opening for United disappears.

Greenwood breaks all the way down the right and cuts into the Liverpool area, but ignores a cut back to van de Beek and neither shoots nor crosses weekly at Alisson, who clears with his feet. Van de Beek is rightly annoyed at that.

It's all United for a few minutes as they settle into possession. Rashford tries to release Cavani with a first time pass over the top, but Alisson reads it and heads the bouncing ball clear.

United win a corner as Williams turns behind a cross from Shaw.

A half-chance for Alexander-Arnold to pick someone out in the centre, as Thiago finds him in acres on the right of the United area, but Maguire cuts out the cross.

We're underway at Old Trafford. Van de Beek, with a much needed touch, kicks things off.

Both sets of players take the knee before kick-off; there is no room for racism.

We’re about ready to go here, your referee for today’s high jinks is Craig Pawson.

The last time United lifted the FA Cup was in 2016, in the last match of the Louis van Gaal era. Liverpool haven't picked this trophy up since a decade earlier than that, when Steven Gerrard wrenched the 2006 final out of the fire against West Ham United. There's a long way to go to the 2021 final, but the fifth round prize of a home tie against West Ham United is on offer for the victor here.

This particular tie has seen so much in its history – red cards, dramatic late winners, extra-time, replays, the lot. We’ve never had a penalty shootout though, and a quick reminder that we’ll be heading to that conclusion if this goes to extra-time and stays level after that period today.

It’s cold out, so gather around the fire; these two teams first met in the FA Cup way back in February 1898, when United were known as Newton Heath and played their matches at Bank Street in Clayton. That finished 0-0, and Liverpool sorted United out 2-1 in the replay at Anfield four days later. In total they’ve met 17 times in this competition, with United having won nine to Liverpool’s four with four draws. Two of those United victories were in the finals of 1977 and 1996.

So just what has happened at Liverpool recently? Since a 7-0 shellacking of Crystal Palace just before Christmas, Klopp’s team have draw three and lost two of their last five Premier League games, scoring only once in that run, losing their unbeaten home record and slipping to fourth in the table. A lack of squad rotation in the last few years seems to be taking quite a toll now, and it’s curious that Klopp did not take advantage of playing Aston Villa’s youth team in the last round of the FA Cup to rest more key players.

This is an intriguing one for United. With the whiff of a title chase in their nostrils, the FA Cup is very much a secondary pursuit this season. That said, Jurgen Klopp is the one top level Premier League manager that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has yet to score a victory over. United came close last weekend, and with Liverpool in their current malaise today represents a chance to grab a victory that might have a greater effect in the league than the FA Cup.

There’s no Jordan Henderson for Liverpool today. Rhys Williams comes in to partner Fabinho in the centre of Liverpool’s defence and Sadio Mane has dropped to the bench as Liverpool line up in what looks like a 4-4-2, with Curtis Jones and James Milner coming in to the midfield.

Victor Lindelof returns to partner Harry Maguire in defence for United, while Dean Henderson gets his cup outing in goal. There’s also a rare start for Donny van de Beek in a midfield three with Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba, while Mason Greenwood gets a run on the right of a front three.