The old Anfield press box could be one of the chilliest before it was renovated, relocated and reopened in 2016. When journalists were relocated to the upper tier of the main stand during the pandemic, the winter months were so harsh we may as well have been sat by the River Mersey.

Since Ruben Amorim promised a storm, Manchester United have lost six, won two, conceded 18 goals and scored nine. The gales will be at their harshest at Anfield.

Liverpool have racked up victories by margins of 7-0, 5-0, 4-0 and 3-0 against United in the past four years. Sweeter was the 2-0 triumph in January 2020. After Mohamed Salah's added-time clincher, the Kop sang, "We're gonna win the league". And they did.

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History could repeat itself this weekend. Liverpool followers were reluctant to get ahead of themselves five years ago but they ended that day 16 points clear at the summit with a game in hand. This Liverpool is six points clear with a game in hand.

Six survivors from that Liverpool starting XI could line up this weekend. Everyone bar United's back three - Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw - has gone. Lindelof and Shaw are on the treatment table again.

Champions-elect against relegation fodder. Sunday appears to be a home banker and Amorim's trial and error selections have resulted in more errors. The United squad is so uninspiring and incapable they have another Argo operation to navigate. There are only bad options and Amorim must settle on the best bad idea he has.

It gets worse. United are winless at Anfield in nine games and nine years, their longest ever drought at the ground since they first played there in 1895. There have been five defeats, four draws, 18 goals shipped and one scored. That was from an error by Alisson that gifted Jesse Lingard a tap-in six years ago.

The first in the sequence was in the Europa League round-of-16 in March 2016. Adidas gifted every United fan in the Anfield Road End a white away shirt to create a 'Wall of White', oblivious to the no-colours culture for away games. United raised a white flag in a limp 2-0 loss.

Amorim played at Anfield in a Europa League knockout tie with Benfica in 2010. Benfica were 2-1 up from the first leg and Amorim buckled in the 18th minute, fouling Yossi Benayoun. Liverpool led nine minutes later and blew Benfica away 4-1.

“We know that it is going to be a tough moment, really different context from both teams," Amorim acknowledged on Friday. "They had that strong base for long years and they are a strong team. But we work this week to win the game, we will try to do that.”

A staunch United fan in the press pack approached Amorim at the end of his press conference: "You've got to beat the Scousers." Amorim laughed and patted the Red on the back.

Jose Mourinho was unfairly pilloried for securing back-to-back goalless draws at Anfield. After the first, in October 2016, he returned to the press conference room to correct a reporter on United's possession statistics. A journalist started to write caustically about Mourinho after he gave him short shrift following another 0-0 12 months later. United were top of the league at full-time.

Lingard's leveller came in Mourinho's last stand in the United dugout. Liverpool placed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on borrowed time with the unacceptable 5-0 thrashing at Old Trafford in October 2021. There were murmurs they could see off another United manager last season.

United defied expectations at Anfield in December 2023 to earn a creditable goalless draw. Erik ten Hag vowed eras would come to an end and he ensured Jurgen Klopp's ended with only the League Cup. United ejected Liverpool in an FA Cup quarter-final for the ages at Old Trafford and denied them victory at the same site three weeks later in the Premier League.

Klopp was particularly agitated with Liverpool 1-0 up in the latter. They spurned presentable openings to make it 2-0 and drew 2-2. Arne Slot's Liverpool were not as careless at United in September during their 3-0 stroll.

The approach to Anfield can be nauseating for those of a United persuasion. Turn left onto Utting Avenue from Queens Drive and you might wonder whether a premature parade has already been planned.

Banners bearing the Liverpool crest dangle from lampposts that read ‘dream’ and ‘believe’, with Anfield's stooping stands visible on the horizon. United used to stay at the appropriately-named Titanic Hotel on Albert Docks ahead of games on Merseyside until they stopped five years ago due to persistently bad experiences there.

The slogans 'This is Anfield.' and 'We are Liverpool.' greet the away side in the tunnel. Liverpool take the 'Walk of champions'. No other club mythicizes as much as Liverpool do with their pious jargon but opponents are often cowed by the Anfield trap. Wout Weghorst unforgivably tapped the 'This is Anfield' sign.

It is more hospitable than the tear gas that greeted the United coach during the mid-Eighties. Ron Atkinson likened Anfield to Vietnam.

Liverpool at their lowest modern ebb, with Kenny Dalglish dad-dancing on the touchline and donning a T-shirt to support Luis Suarez after he racially abused Patrice Evra, did not give United an easy ride. They won two and drew with United at home. Sir Alex Ferguson's team for the stalemate was so conservative he gave the impression United were playing for a draw.

Liverpool were a fading force in 2009-10, Rafael Benitez's last season at the club, and still beat United clinically. United, meanwhile, have granted Liverpool gimmes at Old Trafford: 0-3 under David Moyes and Ten Hag, as well as the 0-5 under Solskjaer.

Moyes lasted 37 more days after Liverpool ran roughshod over United at Old Trafford in a fixture he billed Liverpool as the favourites. Louis van Gaal was driven out of Carrington for the final time 74 days after the white shirts raised the white flag.

The last time United beat Liverpool at Anfield, some of us were chilled to the bone in the mixed zone outside. Van Gaal walked past and turned to us.

"Cold?"

"Yes."

"Good."

The first United match Van Gaal attended after his dismissal was at Anfield. Dutch television tactfully set up their podium in front of the away end and Van Gaal was gratefully applauded.

Amorim can expect a similarly warm ovation, however treacherous the storm.