Liverpool slumped to a fourth consecutive defeat for the first time in 11 years as Manchester United won 2-1 on Sunday to end their near decade-long wait for victory at Anfield.
Harry Maguire’s 84th-minute header secured back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time in Ruben Amorim’s tenure as United boss. Twelve minutes from time, Cody Gakpo had cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo’s opener after just 61 seconds.
Defeat leaves Liverpool four points adrift of Arsenal at the top of the table and Arne Slot still searching for answers on how to get the right blend after splashing out nearly £450 million ($604 million) on new players in the transfer market.
United close to within two points of their historic rivals and up to ninth in the table to ease the pressure on Amorim after his biggest win in nearly a year in charge.
Liverpool had only lost one of the previous 14 Premier League meetings between the sides and United had not tasted victory at Anfield since the early days of Jurgen Klopp’s reign in January 2016.
However, the Reds are in a state of flux after transforming the squad that stormed to the title last season and the tragic loss of Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident in July.
After three consecutive defeats for the first time in Slot’s reign, Liverpool could barely have imagined a worse start. Mbeumo sped past Virgil van Dijk with ease before firing past Giorgi Mamardashvili from Amad Diallo’s pass after barely a minute.
The home side and support were furious that the play was not stopped in the build-up after Alexis Mac Allister went down with a head injury, inflicted by his own captain Van Dijk.
Slot left £100 million signing Florian Wirtz on the bench for the second consecutive game as he looked in vain to find the right balance between defence and attack.