Liverpool must deal with title tension: Klopp

Despite United losing three players in the opening 42 minutes, The Reds missed their chance to go three points clear

MANCHESTER: Jurgen Klopp admitted Liverpool have to learn to cope with the pressure of being embroiled in a tense title race after their frustrating 0-0 draw at Manchester United.

Klopp's side squandered the chance to go three points clear at the top of the table in a dour stalemate against their bitter rivals.

The Reds hold a one-point lead over second-placed Manchester City, but have now used up the game in hand they held over Pep Guardiola's team.

In a match of few chances at Old Trafford, United lost three players in the opening 42 minutes, the first time a Premier League team has been forced into three first-half substitutions in four years.

But Liverpool were unable to capitalise, especially after Roberto Firmino was forced off through injury after half an hour, a loss which clearly impacted the usually effective Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

"Of course there is pressure but, from my point of view, it's very positive," Klopp said.

"It's pressure but I don't have to play, I just have to sit here and say dumb things, that's easy!

"The boys have to learn in these situations and the only way we can do it is with passion.

"The heart and soul of this club is passion. Watford on Wednesday night is another chance, then there is a derby (at Everton) which is always an emotional game, passionate.

"Today we had to fight and we didn't do that exactly how we should have. You can say that's not class but we know where we are coming from and now where we are."

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will also have concerns over his team's midweek game -- Wednesday's visit to Crystal Palace -- after Anthony Martial and Nemanja Matic failed pre-match fitness tests.

As the first half wore on, Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and substitute Jesse Lingard were all also forced out with hamstring injuries, while Marcus Rashford played most of the game with a painful ankle injury after being fouled early by Jordan Henderson.

"I think you can't say 'targeted' but you can say there were quite a few fouls on him, definitely," said Solskjaer when asked if Liverpool had set out to rattle Rashford.



"And normally I would take him off after five minutes, because whoever it was went straight through him.

"His ankle blew up straight away but he wanted to run it off.

"Then I couldn't take him off with Juan and Jesse going off, so we're hoping he's not done too much damage.

"I've never seen the like of this before, having three hamstrings in the first half."

Saluting his side's battling display, which preserved Solskjaer's unbeaten record in the league since taking over as interim boss, the Norwegian said: "We were playing with 10 and half but the atmosphere made up for it, and Rashy's attitude made up for it as well.

"I think they dominated the possession, had a lot of the ball but we had the biggest chances.

"I don't think (it was a ) case of them not wanting to win (the) game. It was (a) case of defending so well so they couldn't get through, but we should have won it to be fair."

Lingard's injury had come while he was in the process of missing the game's best chance, being denied by Alisson's smothering save after being played clean through by Romelu Lukaku just before the break.

In a second half of equally few chances, United created the best with Joel Matip's late own goal being ruled out for offside and Chris Smalling narrowly failing to connect with Lukaku's injury-time cross that would almost certainly have led to a goal.

Emery impressed by Arsenal's staying power

Unai Emery praised Arsenal's intensity after they leap-frogged Manchester United to move into the Premier League's top four with a 2-0 win over Southampton on Sunday.

Emery's much-changed team were on cruise control at the Emirates Stadium thanks to early goals by Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

And now the Arsenal manager hopes his players can maintain that intensity as a congested fixture list forces him into further squad rotation.

Emery made five changes to the starting line-up that beat Bate Borisov 3-0 in the Europa League on Thursday and he expects to make more for Wednesday's home league game against Bournemouth.

"This is the moment we can use fresh players with energy and quality," he said.

"We need to mix to save players because we are going to play a lot of matches.

"It's important to give good performances like today's even when we have to change some players in the first eleven.



"On Thursday I was very proud of them in a dangerous match and today we decided to make some changes and it is very important that we carried on our intensity and our performance with different players."

There was some risk in that approach. Although in the bottom three, Southampton had lost only one of their previous six league matches.

They had also been the team that ended Arsenal's 22-game unbeaten run with a 3-2 victory at St Mary's in December -- which Emery admitted had provided extra motivation for his men.

But while Saints were lively going forward, some of their defenders looked as if they were still on the beach in Tenerife, where they had spent a week of warm-weather training.

The sixth minute summed them up. Jan Bednarek's pass sent Nathan Redmond through on goal and he cut inside Shkodran Mustafi only to see his left-foot shot blocked by Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

The ball was played to the other end, where the unmarked Mkhitaryan volleyed Alex Iwobi's cross back into the centre.

It hit an offside-looking Lacazette and bounced past Southampton goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

"They have fast attacking players like Redmond and in their first action they found space behind our defenders, but you need your goalkeeper sometimes and Leno played well today and helped us a lot," Emery said.

Leno also had to deal with a fierce cross-shot from Matt Targett before Arsenal doubled their lead in the 17th minute thanks to a gift from the visitors' defence.

Jack Stephens played a difficult backpass to Gunn, whose clearance fell to Iwobi 30 yards out.

Mkhitaryan drilled Iwobi's cross first-time between Gunn and his near post.

Lacazette went on to miss four chances to add to the lead, which could prove costly with goal difference a possible factor in Champions League qualification and only two goals between Arsenal, Chelsea and United.

"We could have won by a bigger difference than two goals but if we keep playing with this intensity then goals will come," Emery said.

"My problem is when we cannot create chances."

Southampton changed to a more compact formation in the second half, but the Gunners continued to create and miss opportunities.

"We had the first big chance, a very big chance and from the counterattack we went 1-0 down," Southampton manager Ralf Hasenhuttl said.

"That was the worst thing that could happen. The second goal was a horrible mistake in a zone where you can't make mistakes.

"In the second half we changed the shape and broke their rhythm. It could have been interesting if we had scored."