Only time will tell if this turns out to be a point gained or two lost for Liverpool, but on a slightly surreal afternoon when Manchester United were decimated by injuries and the game suffered for it, this felt very much like a missed opportunity for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

Liverpool are back on top of the Premier League, a point ahead of Manchester City, but they have now dropped six points in their past four matches and the momentum at this stage seems to be firmly with the reigning champions.

Of course, it could have been much worse for Liverpool on the day. Klopp’s heart must certainly have been in his mouth when Romelu Lukaku whipped over a fine inswinging cross that narrowly eluded Chris Smalling a few yards out with just seconds left. But the concern for Klopp is that his team again looked nervy and unsure of themselves and his much-lauded attack, Mohamed Salah in particular, again disappointed, unable to take advantage of a glut of United injuries that should have really left them there for the taking.

As well as United defended, as admirably as ring rusty stand-ins like Scott McTominay and Andreas Pereira performed, and as much as this was another feather in the cap of their caretaker manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was forced to think on his feet, it is hard to believe City would not have found a way through. Or at least asked a lot more questions of United. Liverpool managed just one shot on target, and even that was a speculative effort from distance by Daniel Sturridge that was easily smothered by David de Gea, who was virtually redundant throughout.

It was inevitable that the loss of so many players, starting with Nemanja Matic in training on Saturday and continuing with Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and then Mata’s replacement, Jesse Lingard, who all departed in the first half, would disrupt United. Marcus Rashford also spent all bar the first six minutes hobbling around after taking a whack to the ankle from Jordan Henderson and leaving United with what Solskjaer described as “10½ men”.