On the morning of December 18, the Great Battle of England finished in a tie, formally ending Liverpool’s winning streak at home and indirectly causing the opponent to lose first place in the league.

Man United, still haunted by the 0-7 setback at Anfield last season, is viewed by fans and pundits as a substandard squad, lacking in both offense and defense and entirely vulnerable to defeat. Liverpool is “crushing” to lose by any margin.

However, all public conjecture was shattered as everyone witnessed a resilient Manchester United defeating the home team with good, logical defensive play.

They nullified every assault while also making Liverpool nervous at times during the game.

Coach Erik ten Hag simply characterized his pupils’ performance: “The playing spirit of the players is so great, and Man United played really perfect defense.”

This observation is similar to that of Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp, who believes that Liverpool should have scored from the several opportunities produced, deserving of an overpowering victory rather than having to split points at Anfield.

Injuries and penalties weakened Man United’s already depleted squad, forcing coach Erik ten Hag to start rookie midfielder Kobbie Mainoo with Sofy Amrabat and McTominay, while veteran Jonny Evans played central defensive beside Varane.

With the exception of injured Alexis MacAllister and Andy Robertson, host Liverpool started with nearly their strongest roster of the season.

Liverpool attacked as predicted, and Mohamed Salah nearly scored after a sloppy play in the 16th minute.

Van Dijk’s thunderous header from a corner kick in the 28th minute was denied by Man United goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Man United, on the other hand, only had two goal-scoring opportunities in the first half, and they were not particularly dangerous.

Because the Man United squad played too low and did not pay enough attention to the ball, the away team’s defensive and counter-attacking approach was only implemented on one side.

The second half saw a shift in both teams’ playing styles, opening up the game and creating numerous attacking opportunities.

Man United may have scored a game-changing goal in the 55th minute if Alejandro Garnacho’s break in possession of the ball into the home team’s penalty area had not been swiftly intercepted by Alexander-Arnold.

For example, in the 57th minute, Rasmus Hojlund escaped to face Allisson Becker after bouncing off the wall with McTominay, but he ended up hitting the home goalie.

Liverpool also squandered chances, with Alexander-Arnold’s long-range attempt narrowly missing the post in the 66th minute, Salah failing to past goalie Onana in the 70th minute, and Konate shooting the ball in the penalty area, which Onana easily blocked.

Liverpool’s seven-match home winning streak came to an end, as “The Kop” surrendered the top spot in the league to Arsenal, who won 2-0 against Brighton in the early fixture a few hours earlier.

Liverpool would have dropped to second position in the table if they had not outperformed Aston Villa in terms of secondary coefficient and confrontation index. Man United only dropped one level as a result of Newcastle’s 3-0 win against Fulham the day before…