Liverpool were held to a stalemate by 10-man Manchester United.

In front of a new capacity crowd of over 51,000, Jurgen Klopp’s side failed to find a way past their North West counterparts in a tepid goalless draw.

The visitors saw Diogo Dalot sent off deep in second-half stoppage time for a second bookable offence but the Reds were unable to produce a late winner.

They now sit a point behind Arsenal at the Premier League’s summit ahead of next weekend’s highly-anticipated showdown with the current leaders.

Here were the key talking points from Anfield:

Klopp gets one of his wishes

Christmas has come early on at least one front for Jurgen Klopp.

The Liverpool manager previously called on supporters to deliver ear-splitting atmospheres in hopes of offering his team an extra 10 per cent in matches.

Maximum points and a return to the Premier League’s summit may have eluded Klopp against Manchester United but it still provided a festive gift.

This game was always going to offer a compelling test case as the new Anfield Road Stand’s upper tier boasted 7,000 extra fans for a first time.

That rollout saw the famous old stadium packed to 57,158; its third-highest gate of all time and the largest since an FA Cup clash with Burnley in 1963.

Those swelled numbers led to a noticeable difference in decibel levels as Anfield crackled with anticipation before kick-off and for large parts on Sunday.

Try as they might, however, they failed to inspire their side to victory.

Reds’ midfield is starting to fall flat

A summer of change promised to see Liverpool’s midfield becoming reborn.

Out went the ageing Jordan Henderson and Fabinho while fellow veteran Thiago Alcantara faced a fight for his future due to ongoing injury issues.

But the trio’s replacements are starting to resemble a false dawn after United eked out a clean sheet at the same place they shipped seven in March.

The Reds’ engine room spluttered far more than it roared against their arch-rivals, with Wataru Endo the only player to emerge with any genuine credit.

Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai’s ineffectual displays while flanking the Japan international were symptomatic of an alarming drop-off.

Szoboszlai’s form, in particular, has nosedived since the early weeks of the campaign when comparisons with Steven Gerrard didn’t seem far-fetched.

It spoke volumes that the Hungarian was replaced by Joe Gomez to facilitate Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move into midfield just 15 minutes after the interval.

Stats can’t mask harsh reality

Full-time statistics from this encounter make grim reading for the Anfield faithful

Their team peppered Andre Onana’s goal with 34 shots to take the crown for the most by a team in Europe’s top five leagues this season without scoring.

Worse still, Klopp’s men finished the game with corner kicks in double figures and more than double United’s passing tally while enjoying 69% possession.

Little wonder, then, that Virgil van Dijk claimed post-match that only one team was ‘trying to win’ during what proved to be a footballing war of attrition.

But those numbers cannot mask the harsh reality of Liverpool failing to do enough to take anything other than a point and clean sheet out of the game.

A common jibe during Brendan Rodgers’ ill-fated spell whenever his side had failed to produce a clean sweep was that at least they had ‘won the passing’.

Klopp doubtless would bristle at such succesions yet few would point to that metric if Liverpool fall short of their stated aims across the next five months