Manchester United hold Liverpool to blow open title race

Manchester United held Liverpool to a thrilling 2-2 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon to blow open the Premier League title race.

The result means that Arsenal lead the standings over Liverpool on goal difference, while reigning Champions Manchester City are just one point behind with seven games left.

In what was a fast start from both sides, the hosts had the ball in the back of the net after just over a minute when Alejandro Garnacho rounded Caoimhin Kelleher in the Liverpool goal.

However, it was ruled out as the Argentine winger had strayed offside by a few yards making his initial run. Just seconds later, Andre Onana made a brilliant stop to deny Dominik Szoboszlai with the Hungarian placing his shot from inside the box.

Liverpool spurs golden chances

Both Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez had two brilliant opportunities to open the scoring as Liverpool dominated proceedings, taking advantage of a sloppy United midfield. The visitors finally drew first blood in the 23^rd minute when Luis Diaz acrobatically scored from Nunez’s header from the near post.

It was nothing short of what Jurgen Klopp’s deserved and the German manager would surely be furious with his team not having scored two or more as United were outplayed in every blade of the grass.

United restored parity just six minutes after the restart when Jarrel Quansah gave the ball away following a howler. Bruno Fernandes latched on to the loose ball and the Portuguese lobbed Kelleher from long distance with the Liverpool custodian caught in no man’s land.

United did improve in the following stages and took the lead on the day fifteen minutes later. After Casemiro cleared the ball in midfield, Aaron Wan-Bissaka played it to Kobbie Mainoo as the latter spun away to lose his marker and leash an unstoppable right-footed curler into the back of the net.

Eric ten Hag’s side definitely looked comfortable after taking the lead as they restricted Liverpool from getting any clear-cut opportunities in the final third.

Penalty restores parity

However, Wan-Bissaka slid in on Harvey Elliot catching the Liverpool man in the box to give away a penalty, from which Mohamed Salah restored parity.

Neither side could press on for a win as the visitors missed the chance to go to the top of the table.

Liverpool will now focus on Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Atalanta hosting Crystal Palace at home next weekend. United meanwhile will travel to Bournemouth in their next fixture.

Following the game, Klopp said, “We should have won the game, that is clear. We should have had other goals in the first half already. No shots in the first half and 1-0 is the lowest we could expect. Really well done from Bruno.

Then the stadium is coming and we needed a few minutes to settle again and they scored another screamer. We had big chances before and after they scored.

As far as I’m concerned, we have a point more than we did before. They put an extra shift in, that’s how it is. We will face that again against Everton. Fully deserved equaliser.”

“I’m not angry at all with the boys but in the game I’m not just going to let things happen. We dropped too deep. There were plenty of situations where we could have defended the ball. You need to be proactive. We play now at home against Atalanta, a difficult game but at home and then another. We don’t have many home games left. The team who wins the league in the end should deserve it. We are in the race and I’m absolutely fine with it.”

Photo credit: IMAGO / Pro Sports Images