EPL Title Race: Liverpool Stumble, Draw 2-2 at Old Trafford
Manchester United dented bitter rivals Liverpool’s title hopes as Mohamed Salah’s late spot-kick salvaged a 2-2 draw in Jurgen Klopp’s final trip to Old Trafford. Three weeks on from Erik ten Hag’s men edging an FA Cup classic at the end of extra-time, this age-old rivalry resumed in a similarly chaotic clash in the Premier League on Sunday.
Luis Diaz put dominant Liverpool into a deserved half-time lead against stumbling United, only for Bruno Fernandes’s 45-yard jaw-dropper and a magnificent Kobbie Mainoo effort to turn the match on its head.
Salah levelled with a late penalty after Aaron Wan-Bissaka brought down Harvey Elliott, but the Reds could not eke out a winner as Ten Hag’s men successfully put a spanner in their old foes’ title charge.
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Two swings, many misses. Liverpool salvage a point at Manchester United but will know they left a victory on the Old Trafford pitch, as well as the lead in the title race. This almost farcical 2-2 draw ensured Jurgen Klopp’s side have fallen behind Arsenal on goal difference. The home crowd gleefully sang about the pressure getting to the German, but what was almost more remarkable was how his team wasted so many chances without any pressure at all.
United should really have been beaten out of sight, having not even had a shot in the first half. It of course meant they were going to score with their first shot. Few could have imagined a shot like that which Bruno Fernandes actually produced. Kobbie Mainoo’s follow, to make it 2-1, surpassed even that.
It also took the game to new levels of absurdity, as well as an element of narrative perfection to go with the accuracy of Mainoo’s shot. That was just so in-keeping with the error-prone farce of the game that it couldn’t quite end like that. There was another mistake in Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s foul, as Mohamed Salah at last just scored.
That made for an oddly unsatisfying ending, certainly unlike the raucous recent FA Cup tie this seemed to directly pick up from. It was summed up in how players from both sides seemed disappointed at the end. Liverpool, however, will feel it most.
