The supposed title race marker between Liverpool and Manchester United ended in a goalless draw on Sunday at Anfield as both sides failed to nail a finish.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side after knocking the champions Liverpool off their Premier League perch with victory at Burnley five days ago were hoping to further cement their title credentials at the home of their fiercest rival.
However, the hosts’ long-standing unbeaten run at home in the Premier League didn’t seem under any real threat until very late in the match when Alisson made two vital saves to deny Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba from close range.
Liverpool, in Jurgen Klopp’s 200th Premier League game, couldn’t find the breakthrough as well despite dominating the ball for long spells. It’s also the third Premier League game in a row that the Reds have found it difficult to score.
Manchester United remain top of the league with three points separating them from Liverpool, whom they meet again in the FA Cup next Sunday.
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Managers reactions
Jurgen Klopp said: “If we won 1-0 I’d think it was completely fine. You can’t deny Manchester United chances for 90 minutes. You never could. They’re in a good moment. With all the things said before the game – they’re flying and we’re struggling – my boys did a good game.
“First half the counter-press was great, passing was good. But we didn’t score. That’s the most important thing in football. The second half was a bit more open. They had two big chances – Alisson made two good saves.
“There is no easy explanation [for their recent lack of goals]. You always miss chances. You have to keep going and try to ignore the talk around it. Everyone wants to see goals. You cannot force it. These moments happen. I saw a lot of really good individual performances and the team performance was good. Not the result we wanted, but the result we got.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had this to say: “I’ve got to be honest and say I’m disappointed at the moment. With the injuries they have had lately, you want to come here and get a result. We didn’t, but a point might be OK if we win the next one
“We didn’t deserve the three points because we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t impose ourselves on the game, especially first half. We grew in the game and thought it was there to win in the second half and created two massive chances.
“We can play better than this, we know that. We can be more composed; we can have the ball more. We had to defend really often, and we gave the ball away too often. A couple of things we need to improve on.”
Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)
- Liverpool have failed to score in any of their last three Premier League matches, their longest run since another three-match spell in March 2005.
- Liverpool and Manchester United have drawn nil-nil at Anfield in the league three times in the last five seasons, as many times as in the previous 48 top-flight campaigns.
- Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 16 away matches in the Premier League (W12 D4) – only once have they gone longer without a defeat on the road in the competition (17 games ending in September 1999).
- Liverpool are now unbeaten in their last 68 Premier League games at Anfield, earning 178 out of a possible 204 points over this run.
- Manchester United are the first side to stop Liverpool scoring at Anfield in a Premier League match since Manchester City in October 2018 – this was Liverpool’s 43rd such game since then.
- Under Jurgen Klopp Liverpool are unbeaten in all seven of their Premier League games at Anfield when facing the side starting the day top of the table (W3 D4).
- Liverpool are the third reigning champions to fail to score in three successive league games, after Arsenal in 1998-99 (three games) and Leicester City in 2016-17 (six games).
- Marcus Rashford was called offside five times in this match, the most of any Premier League player this season and the most by a Man Utd player since Robin van Persie (six) vs Spurs in January 2013.
Other Premier League results
- Sheffield United 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur
- Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United
- Manchester City 4-0 Crystal Palace
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