Liverpool 0 Leeds United 0

1st January 2026. EPL

The run goes on! Who’d have thought that this run of seven (so far) of the most challenging games of the season, on paper at least, would see the Mighty Whites unbeaten in six and a half of them! The draw earned at Liverpool was much more of a backs-to-the-wall performance than we’ve seen of late, but it was nonetheless still very impressive, as Daniel Farke rotated his players for this one, and, I’m sure, many fans, like me, thought we might struggle when we saw the line-up before kick-off.

In the event, despite giving up the lion’s share of the possession, Liverpool were allowed to create very little and hardly troubled Lucas Perri after one early jittery stop. They created one big chance in the whole game when a fierce ball was driven across the face of our goal, but Ekitike, who got two against us a couple of weeks ago, this time couldn’t add the finishing touch with the goal gaping. At the other end, maybe Ethan Ampadu ought to have been more composed when Alison passed the ball straight to him, and he could only side-foot his shot at goal, albeit from a long way out. We all thought DCL had got his eight in seven too, near the end, but that was rightly adjudged an inch or two offside. Shame.

To a man, Leeds were magnificent tonight, and finally, we were disciplined enough to take a clean sheet back to Yorkshire, just our third of the season and our first on the road. Oh, and by the way, Liverpool, “Where’s yer famous atmosphere?”

Now the question is: “Can we do it all again on Sunday, in the game against the old enemy from over the hills?” Wouldn’t that be special if we could?

The good news is that we have saved some minutes in the legs of Dom Calvert-Lewin, Noah Okafor, and Jayden Bogle, which hopefully helps us with this next quick turnaround game. Big credit must go to both Seb Bornauw and James Justin, though, who I thought both had really strong games. The bad news is we’ll be trying to do it without our captain fantastic, Ethan Ampadu, who will be suspended after picking up a fifth yellow card in this last game. After that, the card count starts again. That’s Leeds United luck, right there, isn’t it? Without Ethan, the challenge might prove to be a step too far, as he’s been more than fantastic in this incredible unbeaten run. We might get a sense of just how important he is to us. We should remember, though, that Man United will also be missing several top players, including their own captain fantastic, Bruno Fernandes, so it should be “Game On!”

Before that, though, let’s celebrate a fabulous run of success throughout December and now into the New Year. Leeds are actually achieving results now that suggest we are perfectly capable of holding our own at this level, although I expect many fans are still nervous that one poor performance could still rock the boat and bring the nerves back to the surface. For that reason alone, I’d still like to see us bring in at least one big player in the January window, do what we failed to do last time around in the Prem, build on success and give us another little boost. For now, though, it’s so far so good!

Premier League

Liverpool 0

Leeds United 0

Liverpool: Alisson (GK), van Dijk (C), Konaté, Wirtz (Gakpo 66’), Szoboszlai, Bradley (Chiesa 79’), Jones (Mac Allister 66’), Ekitike, Robertson (Kerkez 66’), Frimpong (Ngumoha 84’), Gravenberch. Subs not used: Mamardashvili (GK), Nyoni, Ramsay, Lucky.

Leeds: Perri (GK), Gudmundsson, Ampadu (C), Struijk, Aaronson (Okafor 70’), Nmecha (Calvert-Lewin 70’), Bijol, Stach, Bornauw (Bogle 83’), Justin, Gruev (Tanaka 90’). Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Piroe, Harrison, Byram, Gnonto.

Venue: Anfield

Attendance: 60,343

60,343                              Referee: Christopher Kavanagh

Booked: Ampadu, Bijol (Leeds)