Ruben Amorim tightened things in the middle for Liverpool trip, and the rest of the team stepped up in a pulsating game

This was a thrilling, bruising game, and even a very funny one at times. Not least in its final significant act in the 97th minute, a cross from the right that found Harry Maguire unmarked in front of goal and wreathed suddenly in the cold, hard spotlight of destiny, but opting instead to smash the ball into the crowd like a man punting a crumpled beer can over a factory fence.

The end result was a good draw for Manchester United, which is no small thing, and definitely an improvement on the recent trend for bad defeats. It was probably a good result for Liverpool too after a performance that was spirited at times but some way short of the sunlit stroll of the first half of the season. This point will perhaps mean more by the end than some of those cloudless victories.

Manchester United discovered their mojo to emerge from Anfield with a point and a desperately-needed dose of encouragement

Meanwhile Roy Keane, who is sitting alongside Daniel Sturridge in the Sky studio today, is growling already:

I don’t feel it today. I’m even surprised at myself. I look at the energy off them. Today, I feel probably more worried than I ever have for this United. It’s one of the worst United teams I’ve seen for a long, long time.

Of course, when you play a game of football anything is possible. We have to perform better than last week, that is our goal, and we have to focus on the little things to help us to be in the game. Let’s improve the basic things. We need to be a team, and for that we need to recover really fast, to go forward really fast. The players were nervous, anxious [last week], but we need to be brave. Remember this is the fun part of our week.

An evening of some redemption for Manchester United was not without its customary slice of Anfield agony. Thirty seconds remained of a gripping battle when Joshua Zirkzee spurned the chance of hero status among fans who jeered him six days earlier to present Harry Maguire with a clear sight of Alisson’s goal. Maguire found Row Z of the Anfield Road Stand and United’s wait for a win at Liverpool heads towards a nine-year anniversary on 17 January.

Ruben Amorim visibly despaired after the two maligned United players combined to miss the opportunity to deliver a remarkable victory. But there was plenty to encourage the Portuguese coach, United’s mentality chief among them. Liverpool remain six points clear at the Premier League summit, with a game in hand on nearest challengers Arsenal.

• Liverpool held to 2-2 draw in chaotic thriller with United
• Weather hits more of Sunday’s programme in England

Sunday’s Liverpool v Manchester United Premier League match went ahead despite the north-west region’s adverse weather conditions.

Merseyside and the north-west had a dump of snow overnight and Liverpool city council’s safety advisory group met on Sunday morning to determine whether the game could be played. Access issues led the list of concerns. The group reconvened at 12pm GMT in the hope weather conditions would ease and the fixture kicked off as scheduled at 4.30pm, with Manchester United holding Liverpool to a 2-2 draw.

Liverpool host a disjointed side bereft of form but United supporters are keen to get behind Ruben Amorim

Manchester United’s recent trips to Liverpool have been gruesome occasions for their supporters. It has been nine years since United last won away at their fiercest rivals and they have failed to score in their past five visits to Anfield, losing 4-0 and 7-0 in that time.

United fans could be forgiven for plunging to new levels of pessimism for this latest mission to Merseyside, given current circumstances. While Liverpool are streaking clear at the Premier League summit via a seamless transition under Arne Slot, United are staring down the barrel of a fifth successive defeat and a seventh in 12 games under Ruben Amorim.

• Manager admits it is ‘hard to cope’ with the pressure
• Amorim praises fans despite jeers directed at Zirkzee

Ruben Amorim says Manchester United’s players have been struck by fear during matches and he is looking to the club’s supporters, as well as his own family, to lift the darkening mood around Old Trafford.

United travel to Liverpool on Sunday with the gap between the two fierce rivals 23 points after 19 games played. While Arne Slot has breathed new life into Liverpool this season, Amorim’s start at United has been littered with problems and poor results.

Visitors will offer openings to a Liverpool juggling a four-pronged pursuit of glory with speculation about their stars

At this stage last season Liverpool had lost once and were top of the Premier League. They scored 12 goals in their first three league games of 2024 to prove their credentials as title challengers before faltering in April and finishing third. They again have an impressive platform but January will test the fortitude of Arne Slot’s side, with eight games in four competitions while the rumour mill churns in the background.

A dysfunctional Manchester United arrive on Sunday, 23 points behind Liverpool, desperately hoping that against arguably Europe’s best side they can find a way to halt their run of atrocious performances. Anfield is buoyant after a superb start under Slot but beating a great rival, even one in the doldrums, would take the mood even higher.

Unbending coach takes his side to Liverpool on Sunday, with attempts to kick club on undermined by a decade of misrule

The thought had always been that it couldn’t happen now. It’s just not possible in modern football that a super-club could be relegated. Manchester United may have gone down in 1974 but it’s not going to happen in 2025. Even when Ruben Amorim said that United were in a relegation battle after Monday’s 2-0 defeat by Newcastle, he was making the point to shock.

And it’s not going to happen now. United will not be relegated. They probably only need 15 points from the second half of the season to be safe and the financial structure of modern football means there are at least three sides worse than them. Yet it’s significant that Amorim could mention relegation without it sounding entirely absurd, revealing that it feels worth doing the calculation, working out what sort of tally might be necessary for United to survive. What has happened at United since Sir Alex Ferguson left feels like thought experiment made flesh: what would it take for the most successful side in English history to go down?

Manchester United’s new manager is increasingly looking like an odd hire, especially compared to the successful succession at their arch rivals

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Ruben Amorim’s time at Manchester United is the physical effect of the job, the altered optics. Amorim turned up at Old Trafford looking like a handsome pirate: the jawline, the seigneurial smile, the elite Euro-cardigan styling, the sense that here is someone who smells at all times of high-spec automobile upholstery.

Seven weeks in he has the air of a doomed royal hostage, shuttled joylessly from corridor to touchline by unseen handlers. The smile has fractured, the shoulders have drooped. Most recently United’s head coach has developed a habit of dropping down on to his haunches mid-match and staring deep into the Old Trafford turf, as though searching for a) a contact lens; and b) the remaining fragments of his own shredded and tender soul.

• Manchester United manager ‘happy’ to trigger extension
• He wants senior players to help team ‘starving for leaders’

Ruben Amorim has said Harry Maguire’s one-year option will be triggered “happily” but has warned the former captain to improve his leadership and form to help Manchester United turn around their poor results.

The head coach also said that the club were close to agreeing new terms with Amad Diallo, one of United’s best players this season. “Amad is near,” Amorim said.

Antonee Robinson is running rampant while Eberechi Eze and Erling Haaland hope to build on goals from last time out

The contrast is significant. Newcastle arrive on the back of four league wins and four clean sheets. Tottenham have one victory in their last seven league games, four goals conceded against Chelsea before being hit for six by a rampaging Liverpool side. Spurs have had little trouble going forward but there remains a concern with the returns from their captain, Son Heung-min. The South Korean has had a quiet season by his excellent standards, seven goals in all competitions thus far, an eighth denied by a miss from the penalty spot against Wolves. Hamstring troubles hampered him earlier in the season and, amid Spurs’ wider difficulties, there is the subplot of a change in status within their attack. Dejan Kulusevski has become the central figure; Brennan Johnson, out on the right, is Spurs’ leading goalscorer across all competitions; Dominic Solanke is steadily finding his way. With Son approaching a decade in north London, the future is taking shape. Taha Hashim

Tottenham v Newcastle, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Aston Villa v Leicester, Saturday 3pm

Bournemouth v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Crystal Palace v Chelsea, Saturday 3pm

Erik ten Hag salvaged a sorry season with FA Cup glory but Ruben Amorim has so far overseen even worse results

8 Jan, Wigan (a), FA Cup, 2-0 win; 14 Jan, Tottenham (h) 2-2 draw; 28 Jan, Newport County (a), FA Cup, 4-2 win

1 Feb, Wolves (a), 4-3 win; 4 Feb, West Ham (h), 3-0 win; 11 Feb, Aston Villa (a), 2-1 win; 18 Feb, Luton (a) 2-1 win; 24 Feb, Fulham (h), 2-1 defeat; 28 Feb, Nottingham Forest (a), FA Cup, 1-0 win

3 Mar, Manchester City (a), 3-1 defeat; 9 Mar, Everton (h), 2-0 win; 17 Mar, Liverpool (h) FA Cup, 4-3 win (aet); 30 Mar, Brentford (a), 1-1 draw

4 Apr, Chelsea (a), 4-3 defeat; 7 Apr, Liverpool (h), 2-2 draw; 13 Apr, Bournemouth (a) 2-2 draw; 21 Apr, Coventry, FA Cup, 3-3 (aet; win 4-2 on pens); 24 Apr, Sheffield United (h) 4-2 win; 27 Apr, Burnley (h), 1-1 draw

6 May, Crystal Palace (a), 4-0 defeat; 12 May, Arsenal (h), 1-0 defeat; 15 May, Newcastle (h) 3-2 win; 19 May, Brighton (a) 2-0 win; 25 May, Manchester City, FA Cup final, 2-1 win

• United seven points off drop zone after loss to Newcastle
• Coach says club will have to sell to buy in January window

Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United need a “shock” and are being dragged into a relegation fight after their 2-0 defeat by Newcastle at Old Trafford on Monday night.

It leaves United in 14th place on 22 points at the halfway stage of the Premier League season, seven above the drop zone. The defeat came after first-half goals from Alexander Isak and Joelinton and is United’s fourth consecutive loss in all competitions and the first time three consecutive home league matches have been lost since 1978-79.

Goals from Alexander Isak and Joelinton in the first 20 minutes boosted Newcastle’s top-four hopes and left their sorry hosts stunned

The teams are out! Manchester United wear their storied red, while Newcastle United are in their equally iconic black and white stripes. The Stone Roses blare out of the PA system. This is indeed the one. Peter Oh is also in musical – and indeed festive – mood: “♬ Should old acquaintance be forgot...? ♪ Probably yes, if you’re Man United and you want to finally get out from under Sir Alex Ferguson’s shadow.” We’ll be off in a minute.

Pre-match postbag. “So can we expect Newcastle players to start high-fiving and hugging each other the first time they get a corner tonight? It’s as good as a goal against Manchester United these days, if they stick two Magpies on Onana” – Justin Kavanagh

Manchester United are dipping towards the drop zone under Ruben Amorim, a head coach who took over on 11 November and forgot to pack the “bounce” often gifted to an employer after sacking the last guy.

This was United’s fourth straight defeat in all competitions and the first time three consecutive home league matches have been lost since 1978-79. After 11 games, the Portuguese coach’s record reads six defeats, four wins and one draw. Peer at the table and United are 14th on 22 points. No ­wonder, afterwards, Amorim admitted rele­gation is a threat and “our club needs a shock”.

Fans rate the best and worst of the season so far – the stars, the flops and what needs to change in 2025

• Part one: Arsenal to Ipswich

Well, we’re not bottom, but there’s no getting away from the fact that we have, at times, looked like the worst team in the league, and by some distance. Danny Ward, Wout Faes and James Justin have turned in some astonishingly bad performances this season. Facundo Buonanotte has been a rare bright spark.

Chris Whiting clippings.me/chriswhiting; @ChrisRWhiting

Steph Jones

From the Den to Old Trafford, via Craven Cottage and the Emirates, I saw it all during my years pulling pints for fans

I was 17 when I started working at football grounds for some extra cash on the weekends. As the youngest of three girls, I could easily have followed my older sisters into a Saturday job at a local cafe. Instead, I signed away my life (and social life) to a hospitality agency, in exchange for a tenner an hour, flexible shifts and a variety of unflattering uniforms.

As a diehard Hull City fan, I was no stranger to the concourse, but I wasn’t prepared for the trials and tribulations of working in them. From Millwall to Manchester, I’ve seen it all – proposals, tears (mainly my own) and flying pies.

Manchester United midfielder is actually more disciplined this term but unique demands of job keep him in line of fire

Against Leicester on Boxing Day Virgil van Dijk took to 50 the number of successive league games he has played every minute of. This alone does not explain why the Dutchman is such an effective leader, nor why his Liverpool side are currently so successful, but it certainly helps. There are many kinds of captain, many ways of leading, but above all the one unarguably necessary thing is to be present. You cannot lead a team from the stands.

At which point it is tempting to go in two-footed on Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, as many newspaper headlines did on Friday morning. The Portuguese is, for a couple more days at least, one of only four other captains to have played in every game of this Premier League season but that run ends with the visit of Newcastle on Monday, for which he will be suspended after Tony Harrington, just after half-time in the Boxing Day defeat to Wolves, became the third referee to show him a red card this campaign.

Ruben Amorim knows his job will be at risk if Manchester United's results do not improve but said he enjoys the pressure. 'The manager of Manchester United can never, no matter what, be comfortable, and I know the business that I’m in,' Amorim said after a third consecutive defeat and fifth in seven games. 'You can say I am here one month and I’ve had four training [sessions], but we are not winning. That is the reality and I’m quite comfortable with that.'

• ‘Every coach is in danger’: Amorim wary of job risk if United’s poor form rolls on

• Amorim: ‘United manager can never be comfortable’
• Manager points out he has only had four training sessions

Ruben Amorim has said he is aware his job will be at risk if he fails to reverse Manchester United’s alarming slide and acknowledged supporters are “tired” of the team’s shortcomings. Amorim said he is very aware of the volatile state of management and is determined to thrive on the pressure.

The coach said he is not immune from danger because United paid €10m (£8.3m) to release him from his contract at Sporting in November and knows he must win to prevent scrutiny from building. Amorim’s successor at Sporting, João Pereira, was sacked this week after eight matches in charge.