Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he could not be less interested in talk of a Premier League title race after his side's 0-0 draw with Manchester United at Anfield.
Less than an hour before Sunday's headline encounter kicked off, the Reds lost their grip on top spot in the table to Arsenal, who rose one point above Liverpool with a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Aston Villa's 2-1 victory at Brentford also bumped Liverpool down to third place ahead of the visit of Erik ten Hag's troops, who were the underdogs at a ground where Klopp's men had won every single game in the 2023-24 season so far.
The Reds dominated possession throughout the 90 minutes and peppered Andre Onana's goal with 34 shots, but only eight found the target, as Man United survived the onslaught to travel home with a point.
Klopp's side also failed to capitalise on a late red card to Diogo Dalot as they dropped points at Anfield for the first time this term, leaving them one point behind Arsenal in the Premier League table after 17 matches.
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In six days' time, the Reds will welcome the Gunners to Anfield for a blockbuster top-of-the-table clash between two title rivals, but Klopp believes that talk of battling for glory is still a few months premature.
"I couldn't really be interested, to be honest. I am happy we are in the area where we are and I don't know why we open that discussion, this bottle, this early," Klopp told reporters when asked about the title race.
"It's December, it's the toughest period of the year. Everybody has to get through it somehow, everybody has to dig really deep to get through it. When you are in the cup competitions still then that makes life not easier.
"So, get through this and open your eyes again in April and have a look where you are and then I am more than happy to discuss that, absolutely. I am not nervous or whatever because we didn't win today or stuff like this, but we all have to learn again to deal with the situation."
An unwanted record was set by Klopp's profligate men on Sunday, as 34 shots without scoring was their most on record in a top-flight game since data became available in 2003-04, and the most in the Premier League since Man United fired 38 attempts without success against Burnley in October 2016.
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Klopp believed that Liverpool were guilty of 'rushing' their opportunities in front of goal, but he was still able to take "a lot of positives" from the contest and believes that he witnessed his side's best counter-pressing performance of the season.
"Let me say, besides the result, I have a lot of positives about this game. You could say the decisive part, the scoring part, obviously was not there today. Maybe one or two were a bit unlucky and in other moments not calm enough, a bit too much in a rush," Klopp added.
"But the start in the game was the best we had this season, the counter-pressing was the best we had this season, the intensity was outstanding and the amount of finishes is outstanding. But when you have this amount of finishes, you should have a few more on target – that's another point which was obviously not great.
"And the goal, if we would have scored it whenever, it would have changed everything because they were obviously not here to lose somehow and they really wanted the result. They fought hard for it and credit to them."
Before hosting Arsenal at Anfield next weekend, Liverpool will vie for a place in the EFL Cup semi-finals when they take on West Ham United in Wednesday's quarter-final tie.
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