(Football news) Manchester United relinquished control of the top spot in the table to Arsenal, who moved up to one point above Liverpool with a 2-0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion, less than an hour before the main match on Sunday got underway.
The 2-1 triumph of Aston Villa against Brentford also moved Liverpool up to third position ahead of Erik ten Hag’s team’s visit, where they were the underdogs at a venue where Klopp’s team had won every game thus far in the 2023–24 campaign.
Man United withstood the onslaught to return home with a point as the Reds controlled possession for the entirety of the ninety-minute period and rained 34 shots on Andre Onana’s goal, just eight of which struck the net.
After losing at Anfield for the first time this season and failing to take advantage of a late red card to Diogo Dalot, Klopp’s team is now one point behind Arsenal in the Premier League standings after 17 games.
The Reds will host the Gunners at Anfield in six days for a thrilling top-of-the-table match between the two championship rivals, but Klopp thinks it’s still a few months too soon to talk about competing for glory.
“To be honest, I couldn’t really be interested. When asked about the title fight, Klopp told reporters, “I am happy we are in the area where we are and I don’t know why we open that discussion, this bottle, this early.”
“It’s December, it’s the toughest period of the year. Everybody has to get through it somehow, everybody has to dig really deep to get through it. When you are in the cup competitions still then that makes life not easier.
“So, get through this and open your eyes again in April and have a look where you are and then I am more than happy to discuss that, absolutely. I am not nervous or whatever because we didn’t win today or stuff like this, but we all have to learn again to deal with the situation.”
The 34 shots without a goal that Klopp’s rapacious team managed to muster on Sunday established an unwelcome record. This was the highest number of shots in a Premier League game since records began to be kept in 2003–04, and the highest since Manchester United was unsuccessful in 38 efforts against Burnley in October 2016.
Although Klopp thought that Liverpool had ‘rushed’ their chances to score, he was nevertheless able to draw “a lot of positives” from the match and thinks that he saw his team’s finest counter-pressing effort of the year.
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