Zlatan Ibrahimovic came to the rescue of Man United as their nine-match winning run came to an end in the 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho’s men had enjoyed a recent resurgence that saw them winning nine matches on the trot across all competitions but had to wait till late in the match to preserve their unbeaten run.
Going into then match Liverpool have much to consider as they aim to stay in touch with Chelsea after the Blues extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points following their 3-0 defeat of Leicester City and the 4-0 thumping of West Brom by Tottenham saw the Lilly Whites over taking the Reds in the second position.
Only a win would have seen them reduced the gap back to five months but the draw means the seven points gap remain intact, at least for now. And Liverpool have their keeper Simon Mignolet to thank for his heroics saves in the first half as he made superb saves to deny both Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
For some unjustifiable reasons, Paul Pogba gave his side a herculean task to overcome when he handled. corner and James Milner converted the resulting penalty to put Liverpool ahead in the 27th minute and the Reds held on to their lead in the first half.
Man United search for an equaliser continued until the 84th minute hen Ibrahimovic headed in a Marouane Fellaini’s effortlessly which had bounced off the post, denying Liverpool the chance of moving back to the second position.
The Swede has now scored 14 goals in his first 20 Premier League games and 19 in total this season. United remained in the sixth position with 40 points.