Liverpool 0-0 Leeds: Both sides share the spoils in cagey affair
Liverpool could find no way past newly promoted Leeds at Anfield as the disciplined visitors left with a point in a drab goalless affair. Both sides also shared points in December but that game was a diametric opposite to this one, ending in a thrilling 3-3 draw. Liverpool remain in fourth place, three points ahead of Chelsea and Manchester United, while Leeds, in 16th place, pull three points clear of Nottingham Forest in 17th and will surely be the happier of the two teams.
This was the first 0-0 of Slot’s Liverpool tenure and it owed just as much to Leeds’ excellent defensive shape as it did Liverpool’s limited attacking verve. Jaka Bijol and Pascal Struijk were outstanding at the back, anchoring a compact side that Liverpool dominated in possession but couldn’t penetrate. Virgil van Dijk came closest to scoring in the second half with a header from a Szoboszlai corner but it bounced just wide.
Some of Liverpool’s best moments involved the in-form Hugo Ekitike. He tested Lucas Perri at the near post in the first half, after combining with Curtis Jones. The Leeds goalkeeper spilled the shot before James Justin intervened to block Florian Wirtz. Ekitike then raced on to a long ball from Ibrahima Konate but his pass to Florian Wirtz came to nothing after the German was impeded again by Justin.
The clearest opening fell to Ekitike just before the break. After Jeremie Frimpong, playing as the right winger, whipped the ball into the six-yard box, Ekitike only managed to head straight at Perri.
Leeds had started with Lukas Nmecha leading the line, in-form striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin benched by manager Daniel Farke due to fitness concerns amid the tight schedule. The result was that, even though they had scored nine goals in their last four games, the visitors rarely threatened, ending the game with only two shots.
Alisson’s poor clearance in the first half went straight to Ethan Ampadu and his first-time effort could have put Leeds in front, but the goalkeeper made a quick recovery. It proved the only real scare Alisson faced, and his clean sheet was a personal landmark: the 100th of his Liverpool league career.
Calvert-Lewin came on in the closing stages and almost delivered the decisive moment for Leeds, finishing from close range after decent team work from the visitors, but the striker had been offside in the build-up. There was a wave of Liverpool pressure in stoppage time but it ultimately came to nothing.
