Liverpool’s failure to score for the first time since April cost them top spot in the Premier League as Manchester United secured a goalless draw to deny their arch-rivals a club record.
Erik ten Hag’s side succeeded where 34 previous opponents had failed in keeping out a team which finished the game with five attacking players on the pitch and Trent Alexander-Arnold playing as the central fulcrum.
The visitors offered little in the way of threat themselves as their goal drought on enemy territory extended to 507 minutes, stretching back five years, but they at least stemmed the bleeding which had seen them concede 21 times in the last five meetings home and away.
In that respect, the under-scrutiny United boss can take a crumb of comfort and their supporters will have been equally delighted to both deny Liverpool recovering top spot after Arsenal had moved ahead earlier in the day and also ending their 100 per cent home record.
Less impressive was Diogo Dalot’s controversial double-yellow card sending off in added time.
It is now just one win in six for the visitors and defensive performances such as this will not get them any closer to the top four.
Ten Hag also still has to find a way to unlock the potential of £72million summer signing Rasmus Hojland, who had United’s only shot on target in the 67th minute.
His Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp will be even more disappointed, however, that his side did not convert their dominance – they had 34 shots in the game – into something more than a point.
After recent late escapes against Fulham and Crystal Palace there was no sting in the tail here, in fact there was very little sting at all throughout as Darwin Nunez never looked like ending a goalless run that has now extended to seven matches.
While Mohamed Salah turned and toiled, even his mercurial skills could not unlock a committed United defence which saw goalkeeper Andre Onana have one of his better days.
In front of their biggest attendance for half a century – 57,000 after the top tier of the Anfield Road stand was opened – Liverpool established their dominance in the first five minutes, winning a corner after 15 seconds on their way to 89 percent possession and two shots.
However, they failed to turn that into anything substantive after Sofyan Amrabat cleared a Kostas Tsimikas free-kick just yards off his own goalline and a stretching Nunez failed to reach Salah’s lobbed pass.
The pressure United were being put under was typified by Antony passing the ball out of play as intended target Dalot ran past him.
United’s narrow back four gave their hosts plenty of space out wide but although Alexander-Arnold and Salah regularly found themselves in those areas they were not effective enough.
Onana failed to hold a Luke Shaw half-clearance and Salah’s shot was deflected wide but did much better in tipping over Virgil van Dijk’s header.
Salah opted to shoot weakly instead of passing to the overlapping Tsimikas in a rare error of judgement which was reflective of a half which had plenty of shots, the most against United in the first half in five years, but little genuine threat.
In that aspect United’s plan was working and, after Alexander-Arnold, who made a timely challenge on Alejandro Garnacho as he bore down on goal, drove into the side-netting Klopp switched to a 4-4-2 with his hybrid right-back moving full-time into central midfield and Salah deployed up top.
It brought immediate change with Alexander-Arnold’s low drive just wide and Onana palming away a Salah effort and charging down a Luis Diaz shot.
In between the isolated Hjoland found the chest of Alisson Becker with just the keeper to beat.
United swapped Garnacho for Marcus Rashford while Klopp switched again, this time to a 4-2-3-1 with the attacking talents of Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott deployed.
However, the closest they came to breaking the deadlock was substitute Joe Gomez finding the side-netting.
Things ended on a bizarre note with Dalot’s fume for having a decision go against him resulting in two cautions within the space of a few seconds.
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Celta Vigo: De Paul stunner keeps Simeone's side on course for Champions League
Rodrigo De Paul scored a brilliant late goal to snatch a 1-0 home victory for Atletico Madrid against relegation-threatened Celta Vigo, as they consolidated fourth spot in LaLiga on Sunday.
The Argentina midfielder controlled a clearance from a corner just outside the box before unleashing a breathtaking shot into the top-right corner with just six minutes remaining.
The win leaves Atletico with 70 points from 35 games – eight points ahead of fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao – while Celta are 16th with 34 points, five points above the drop zone.
Diego Simeone's hosts had launched a late offensive effort but remarkable saves from Celta goalkeeper Vicente Guaita kept them at bay until De Paul's stunner clinched three points.
Atletico can secure a spot in the Champions League next season with victory away at Getafe on Wednesday.
Skinner lauds 'history-makers' after Man Utd lift Women's FA Cup
Marc Skinner lauded his Manchester United Women side as "history-makers" after their first FA Cup triumph in history on Sunday.
The Red Devils swept aside Tottenham Women with a 4-0 victory at Wembley Stadium as Ella Toone and Rachel Williams were on target before Lucia Garcia's second-half double.
United missed out in the final of the Women's FA Cup last season, losing to Chelsea 1-0, but produced an emphatic response to secure the first major trophy in their history.
Having lost in Champions League qualifying, suffered group-stage elimination in the League Cup and sitting fifth in the Women's Super League, Skinner was delighted with his side's response in the capital.
The United boss told BBC One: "We are obviously not where we want in the league, right? But we are history-makers for Manchester United.
"I didn't need to remind the owners of that, they know. There is a lot of support and love for our team and the growth.
"We want to compete for titles but you all know how important adding that first piece of silverware is. We've got nothing but growth ahead."
Toone provided the first moment of magic with a rocketed right-footed finish into the top corner from the edge of the area, setting the tone on the stroke of half-time after a dominant opening 45 minutes.
"In all honesty, I felt that first half was just frustration because we didn't score, I thought we offered more of a threat, we controlled most of their threat," Skinner added.
"As much as I am exhausted now, it is a magical feeling. Tooney scored one of those goals at Leicester but it is another thing to do it at Wembley.
"I told her on the podium you have to feel it, remember it because it comes and goes too quick, and that is what she did. Congratulations to her and the team, we are FA Cup winners."
Williams added the second with her headed finish after 54 minutes, though the United forward admitted this season has been far below usual standards.
"We don't like to admit it but it does mask over the issues we've had," Williams told BBC One.
"We have had some ups and downs this year. That's for Marc [Skinner] and the backroom staff to be like 'right this is what we have to do in the summer'.
"We are going to have change things next year. We have had some injuries, three or four ACLs, at the start of the season. That's football, teams go through transition.
"You have a good year, you have a dip. Next year we might just come back bigger, better and stronger and who knows we might just be lifting the league."
Klopp in awe of 'incredible' Emery ahead of Villa Park showdown
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has praised the "incredible job" Unai Emery has done during his time at Aston Villa ahead of Monday's contest between the sides.
Emery guided Villa into the Europa Conference League in his first campaign in charge, where they made it to the semi-final stage.
The Villans' Euro campaign was ended by Olympiacos on Thursday, but they are one win from securing a Champions League spot for next term.
Emery's men, who lost 1-0 at Brighton last time out in the league, can get themselves over the line with a game to spare when Liverpool visit Villa Park next up.
"He's done an incredible job," Klopp said. "Emery is one of the best we have in the business, 100 per cent. Wherever he was, he had success.
"Sometimes clubs were not ready to wait for it, maybe. If you look back probably these clubs would have made different decisions.
"The job he is doing is absolutely exceptional. We all know how important it is for a club to qualify for the Champions League, how difficult it is."
Liverpool enter the contest third in the Premier League, 11 points better off than Villa, with their title hopes now officially over.
While there may not be a great deal on the line for the Reds on the face of it, this will be Klopp's final away game as Liverpool manager.
The German is departing after next week's home match with Wolves, and Villa skipper John McGinn says he will be missed.
"The league has been very lucky to have Klopp," McGinn said. "He has obviously got an identity and a really strong team. He will be missed.
"I think everyone knows what we think of our own manager. We are very lucky to have him and his staff. They work endlessly to make us better."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Aston Villa - Ollie Watkins
Watkins has failed to score in back-to-back games in all competitions for Villa, with his blank against Brighton leaving him one short of the 20-goal mark in the Premier League this season.
The last Villa player to reach that mark in a top-flight campaign was Peter Withe in 1980-81.
The omens are certainly good, as only against Brighton (six) - ironically - has Watkins scored more goals in the competition than he has against Liverpool (five).
Liverpool - Mohamed Salah
Salah returned to the Liverpool starting line-up last weekend and both scored and assisted in the 4-2 win over Tottenham.
The Egyptian has now both scored and assisted in four different Premier League games this season - only Chelsea's Cole Palmer (five) has done so more often.
Across his entire Premier League career, Salah has done so 31 times in total, with that a tally only Wayne Rooney (36) and Thierry Henry (32) can better.
MATCH PREDICTION - LIVERPOOL WIN
Villa lost 1-0 to Brighton in their most recent league game, but they have not lost successive Premier League matches since May last year.
Liverpool were 4-2 winners against Tottenham last time out, meanwhile, and have lost just one of their past 26 league games played in May.
This is a fixture the Reds tend to do well in, however, as they have lost just once and won 10 times in their past 12 league games with Villa.
Indeed, Liverpool have won more Premier League away games against Villa than they have any other opponents (16).
Historically speaking, meanwhile, Liverpool have lost only one of their eight final away league games under Klopp, last doing so in 2018.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Aston Villa - 27.1%
Draw - 27.7%
Liverpool - 45.2%
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