The home advantage was concretized by Liverpool players right from the first shots. With the mobility of Firmino and Wijnaldum, The Kop forced the away team M.U to focus on a passive defense after only 10 minutes of play.
However, with calculations, Mourinho was not surprised by the opponent's playing style and let his students focus on defense to limit the danger to David De Gea's goal.
In this match, Mourinho let Phil Jones and Smalling start from the start as a central defender duo in front of the goal. Every attack of the home team was quickly neutralized by the somewhat superior physique of Jones and Smalling. De Gea's goal was still guaranteed to be safe in the first 25 minutes of the first half.
With the effort to score in the first half, Liverpool proactively accelerated the pace of the match higher. In the 34th minute, Firmino's favorable cross was realized by Matip with a close-range shot. Unfortunately, De Gea's foot still promptly saved the away team's goal.
The first half ended in a 0-0 draw, Liverpool were the team that took the initiative to put more pressure. This scenario continued for the first 15 minutes of the second half. In the 56th minute, Emre Can of the home team cleverly escaped down to face De Gea. Unfortunately, the home team's midfielder's shot sent the ball over the bar.
M.U made continuous substitutions, Lingard replaced Mkhitaryan and Martial had to give way to Rashford in just 3 minutes from 63 to 66. 15 minutes later, Liverpool did the same, letting Ox-Chamberlain replace Salah and Sturridge replace Coutinho.
Although he proactively replaced the attacking players on the field. However, neither M.U nor Liverpool could find a way into the opponent's net. The match ended in a 0-0 draw. With this result, M.U has 20 points, temporarily ranked 2nd while Liverpool has 13 points, temporarily moved to 6th place by Burnley.
Lineup:
Liverpool: Mignolet, lovren, Matip, Moreno, Gomez, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Coutinho (Sturridge 79'), Can, Firmino, Salah (Ox-Chamberlain 79').
M.U: De Gea, Valencia, Darmian, Smalling, Jones, Young, Matic, Herrera, Mkhitaryan (Lingard 64'), Martial (Rashford 66'), Lukaku.
