Man United draw 0-0 at Spurs, Liverpool held

Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney argues with the referee as Rafael Da Silva, left is sent off.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Manchester United survived the  late dismissal of Rafael Da Silva to draw 0-0 at Tottenham  Hotspur and Kenny Dalglish endured a frustrating return to  Anfield as Liverpool were held 2-2 by Everton yesterday.

Sunderland drew 1-1 with neighbours Newcastle United and  Birmingham City and local rivals Aston Villa also shared two  goals all four Premier League matches ended in stalemate. United’s eighth draw in 10 away games took them top on 45  points from 21 matches, ahead on goal difference of Manchester  City, who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-3 on Saturday and have  played two games more.

Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney argues with the referee as Rafael Da Silva, left is sent off.

Arsenal are third on 43, Chelsea fourth on 38 and Spurs  fifth on 37. Liverpool stay 13th on 26 points, behind Everton on  goal difference. Tottenham went into yesterday’s game with high hopes of  securing their first win over United in 20 attempts spanning 10  years but they never did enough to unsettle the impressive  visiting defence.

Peter Crouch shot just wide in the breathless early  exchanges and Rafael van der Vaart sent an exquisite curler just  over the bar once the game had settled.

Brazilian fullback Rafael collected his second yellow in the  73rd minute for a hotly-disputed trip of Benoit Assou-Ekotto but  though Spurs threw men forward they never looked like ending  United’s unbeaten record this season. “It was tight. I felt we just about edged it without being  able to get the goal but I never felt we were going to get beat.  It was never a game I could really see them scoring in today,”  Spurs manager Harry Redknapp he told reporters.

“United are very strong and disciplined at the back and hard  to break down but I couldn’t say at the moment they are on  another level and are going to walk away with the championship.

“You can’t be as good a team as you were a year ago when you  haven’t got (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Carlos) Tevez. Other teams  have improved and got closer to them but they’ve lost players  like that and are still up there.”
Alex Ferguson thought it was a decent point for his team.

“It was a tough game, they didn’t make many chances against  us, we were a bit careless with our use of the ball,” he said.
“Our defenders were particularly good but when we were in  the final third maybe we needed a better pass.”

DIFFERENT DRAW
It was a very different type of draw at Anfield, where Kenny  Dalglish went through the full gamut of emotions on his  emotional first home game in charge.

Liverpool, without suspended captain Steven Gerrard,  produced a committed performance and deservedly led their  Merseyside neighbours through a crisp strike by Raul Meireles.

Everton, though, turned the game upside down with two goals  in the first seven minutes of the second half from Sylvain  Distin and Jermaine Beckford.

Liverpool came back strongly and levelled through Dirk  Kuyt’s 68th-minute penalty after Tim Howard fouled Maxi  Rodriguez.
“The players’ attitude and desire to get back in the game  was really something,” said Dalglish, whose first two games  ended in defeats by Manchester United and Blackpool.

“We could have been more than one up but we were really  pleased with the way we played and that’s great credit to the  players who have had to adjust to the new ways of playing and  training.

“There is a lot of belief coming back into the players and  that is great for us”
Everton boss David Moyes admitted Liverpool were the better  team in the early stages.
“I was delighted to come in only 1-0 down after the first  half because Liverpool were the better team but I’m disappointed  we didn’t take all three points after the second half,” he said.