Manchester United hampered bitter rivals Liverpool’s Premier League title bid with a damaging goalless draw, despite losing three players to injury before the break.

In a bitty contest low on quality and entertainment, Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and substitute Jesse Lingard all suffered apparent hamstring issues by 43 minutes. Striker Marcus Rashford also played on, even though he picked up a knock early doors.

All these factors went against them, but Brazil goalkeeper Alisson clawing the ball away from Lingard’s feet represented the brightest moment of a limp match.

Here are the United player ratings:

MAN UNITED (4-3-1-2)

David De Gea 6: Faced just one shot on target. Should have needed to work harder for 100th PL clean sheet.

Ashley Young 6: Right-back survived wretched beginning to dig in, while his team-mates fell like flies.

Chris Smalling 7: Slow game suited centre-back. Everything was in front of him. Should have gambled on late chance.

Victor Lindelof 7: A growing presence. Doubled up on Salah when the Egypt superstar drifted inside.

Luke Shaw 7: Had the Premier League’s joint-top scorer to deal with. Instructed to neglect attacking duties.

Ander Herrera 5: Blink and you missed him. Made one rash foul on rampaging Matip – then was gone.

Scott McTominay 7: Shock starter, because of Matic injury. Did well, apart from some suspect grappling in box.

Paul Pogba 6: Second-worst pass accuracy from United’s starting XI. But did more than his fair share of defensive duties. This made up for it.

Juan Mata 5: Another one to say an early ‘goodbye’. Wasted one promising counter-attack by dallying on ball.

Marcus Rashford 6: Stayed out after early knock, but at what cost? Hard to see him starting at Crystal Palace on Wednesday.

Romelu Lukaku 6: The Belgian had several poor touches, yet he set-up Lingard and Smalling for game’s best chances.

SUBSTITUTES

Andreas Pereira 7: Redemption after horror show against Burnley when he was last seen in top flight. Performed valuable job.

Jesse Lingard 5: Simply, he should never have played. Especially as a rushed substitution. Almost scored when he tried to round Alisson, though.

Alexis Sanchez 6: Better, but still not at his Arsenal best. Buzzed around park.