Liverpool drop Premier League points against Manchester United as Arsenal go top and Aston Villa keep pressure on
Liverpool missed a chance to go top of the Premier League table today after they were held to a goalless draw by an under pressure Erik ten Hag and Manchester United at Anfield.
Few expected Manchester United – who finished the game with 10 men after Diogo Dalot was sent off for two yellow cards for dissent – to leave the Merseyside stronghold with a point given losses to Bournemouth and Bayern Munich in their last two games, and having travelled with a number of injuries to senior players, but Liverpool were unable to find a winner despite having 34 shots, eight of which were on target, compared to United’s six with one on target.
“The one thing I don’t like is the result,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. “We should have scored.
“I can’t remember such a dominant performance against Manchester United.
“They probably feel slightly better than us. For us we will take the point and keep going.”
Arsenal on top
The result leaves Liverpool second in the Premier League table, one point behind Arsenal and level on points with Aston Villa in third in the three-way fight to top the table come Christmas.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal heaped pressure on Liverpool – who they face at Anfield this coming Saturday – in the early match with a 2-0 victory against a stubborn Brighton outfit at Emirates Stadium.
The match in north London was level at the break but goals in the second 45 through Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz saw Arteta’s men take the three points and go top of the league.
“It was an incredible performance. It was a joy to watch from the start to the end,” the Arsenal manager said.
“The way we played against a phenomenal Brighton side was incredible. We were patient, kept going, kept believing and got what we deserved.”
Villa in behind
Aston Villa maintained their pressure on the top two with a 2-1 victory over Brentford in a spicy match that saw both teams have a player sent off.
The Bees went ahead through Keane Lewis-Potter before a red card for Ben Mee after a VAR review saw momentum swing the way of the visiting side.
Villa netted through Alex Moreno and Ollie Watkins before Boubacar Kamara was handed his marching orders by referee David Coote in the ill-tempered affair.
“Our behaviour is [usually] fantastic, but today it was not good,” Unai Emery said of his side after intervening to remove his players from a scuffle during the match. “I want to explain to the players how we can react when we are under pressure, in some circumstances there was provocation from them.
“We are going to meet to speak about the analysis of the match and one part of it is to try and understand what happened when we lost a bit of our control.”
Elsewhere in the Premier League a Mohammed Kudus brace helped West Ham to a comfortable 3-0 victory at home to Wolves which saw David Moyes’s men move up to eighth.