FOOTBALL NERD

It is difficult to work out whether Jurgen Klopp’s failure to win at Old Trafford as Liverpool manager is simply a strange quirk of his tenure or a sign of just how desperate Manchester United are to halt their fiercest rivals’ ascent to the top of English football.

Last season, United held out for a goalless draw despite an unprecedented flurry of first-half injuries that left them playing with a hobbling Marcus Rashford up front.

Liverpool dropped two points and went on to

finish second to Manchester City by a single point. It was not the only reason they did not end their title drought but it looked very much like an opportunity missed.

This trend extends to Mohamed Salah, who is without a single goal or assist in four games against United.

In the time since Salah signed for Liverpool, Pascal Gross has three goals against United and Abdoulaye Doucoure, Patrick van Aanholt, Eric Maxim Choupo-moting and Nathaniel MendezLaing are among 13 players with two.

That makes United the only Premier League team the Egyptian has faced more than once without making a direct contribution to a goal.

United ended last season with a worse defensive record than 10 other teams, Liverpool were the secondhighest scorers. Yet there was no goal or assist, home or away, for Salah. It was the same the year before.

As Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team continue to prove, they are more than capable of capitulating, but they somehow manage to hold themselves together when it comes to games against their greatest rivals.

Liverpool already have an eight-point lead in the table. Some think the title race is over. But Salah, without an away Premier League goal this season and facing a trip to United, might not be the man Liverpool look to for an end to Klopp’s lean spell at Old Trafford.