LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Liverpool missed out on reclaiming top spot as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Manchester United at Anfield in the Premier League on Sunday — ending their perfect home record this season.
Juergen Klopp’s side had been knocked out of first place by Arsenal earlier on Sunday and would have recaptured a place at the summit with a win but lacked their usual goal threat.
A United side shorn of confidence after a miserable week held on grimly for their point although they have now scored just once in their last eight visits to Liverpool.
The closest the hosts came to scoring was a Trent Alexander-Arnold shot that grazed the post, while Rasmus Hojlund had United’s best opportunity.
The visitors finished with 10 men after Diogo Dalot was sent off in stoppage time for two yellow cards — both for dissent.
Second-placed Liverpool have 38 points from 17 games with leaders Arsenal on 39, while United are seventh with 28.
Liverpool partly opened their newly revamped Anfield Road Stand for the first time, bumping the attendance up to 57,000 — the largest for 50 years at their stadium.
They were expected to make it 12 home wins out of 12 in all competitions but the inter-city derby, traditionally one of the most feisty in England, failed to really ignite as Liverpool never looked like repeating last year’s 7-0 hammering of United.
The atmosphere was muted in a tepid first half in which Liverpool started brightly but then failed to exert sustained pressure on a United side many thought were there for the taking after recent poor domestic and European results.
United withstood a fast start by Liverpool and looked reasonably comfortable despite 15 goal attempts by the hosts in the first half, none of them especially threatening.
Virgil van Dijk’s header from a corner forced United goalkeeper Andre Onana into a smart save while Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch had a volley deflected wide.
With United forward Marcus Rashford again put on the bench by Erik Ten Hag and captain Bruno Fernandes suspended, the visitors did not have an attempt on target in the first half.
Klopp made a switch on the hour, bringing in Joe Gomez and pushing Alexander-Arnold further forward and it almost reaped rewards when the latter grazed the post with a low shot.
At the other end, a rare piece of fluent attacking play by United saw Hojlund play a neat one-two with Scott McTominay but he could not beat Liverpool keeper Allison with an angled shot.
In a breathless spell Onana then had to dive theatrically to push away a shot by Mo Salah. Liverpool pressed hard late on but were unable to make any of their 34 goal attempts count.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)