premier league : Manchester United 0 – 0 Liverpool

Manchester United kept their place at the top of the Premier League table with a goalless draw at defending champions Liverpool, as goalkeeper Alisson’s heroics denied them a victory at Anfield.

United put in an excellent defensive display and almost grabbed all three points through Paul Pogba’s close-range effort, but Alisson saved well from our French midfielder.

Clear-cut chances were few and far between throughout the 90 minutes, and neither side could find the breakthrough, ensuring the Reds keep hold of top spot for the time being.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made three changes to the side that won at Burnley to go top in midweek. Victor Lindelof, Fred and Scott McTominay all returned in place of Eric Bailly, Nemanja Matic and Edinson Cavani who were named on the bench.

Liverpool, meanwhile, were once again forced to play Jordan Henderson and Fabinho as their central defensive pairing, while Xherdan Shaqiri made his first Premier League start of the season.

Liverpool enjoyed much of the first-half possession and created several chances, including Andy Robertson’s half-volley over the crossbar and Roberto Firmino’s tame effort into the hands of David De Gea.

Man Utd came close to breaking the deadlock with their only shot of the opening period, Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick flying inches wide of Alisson’s goal.

After the break, Harry Maguire denied Roberto Firmino a tap-in before Mohamed Salah fired wide for the hosts.

Alisson then kept out Fernandes with a fine reaction save before superbly keeping out Paul Pogba’s close-range strike late on, either side of Thiago forcing De Gea to palm his long-range shot wide.

A 12-match unbeaten run takes Man Utd to 37 points, two more than second-placed Leicester City.

Liverpool are three points behind Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team in fourth.

Match-Stats :

COMINGUP NEXT

• Liverpool will host Burnley at Anfield on 21^st Jan
• Manchester United will play at Fulham on 20^th Jan

Post-Game Reactions :

Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool Manager :

on Teams performance in 0-0 draw: “We have a point more than before the game. I think the performance was good enough to win it but to win a game you have to score goals and we didn’t do that. That’s why we have that result and it’s absolutely OK.

On current Manchester United Team : “I don’t think in these categories, they were always a threat in the moments when we met them. They were always good, they were always organised, sometimes a little bit under pressure for the wrong reasons and all these kind of things. It was always a threat and always difficult and that’s never changed. I am not sure if it’s more or less, in that moment it is just how it is.”

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Manchester United Manager :

On United’s Performance and Missed Opportunity : “I know we can play better, but we’re still coming away from here with a point which shows how far we’ve come in a year or even six months. We didn’t impose ourselves on the game, especially in the first half. I think we grew into the game and towards the end you felt ‘yeah, it’s here for us to win’ and we created two massive chances and they were two brilliant saves by the keeper.

“I’ve got to be honest to say I’m a bit disappointed at the moment, but still you know you’re playing against a fantastic team and they had more of the possession. But still you want to go here and you know the injuries they’ve had lately, you think you go here and get a result. We didn’t, but a point might be okay if we win the next one.”