Manchester City maintained their unbeaten home record as they held Liverpool to a goalless draw at Eastlands.
Defensive heroics deny Liverpool
Manchester City held Liverpool in front of a record crowd at The City of Manchester Stadium to go into the New Year still unbeaten at home.
The Reds had the better of the play and the chances, with Richard Dunne having to clear a Dirk Kuyt header off the line with five minutes to go.
And on 47 minutes, Spanish striker Fernando Torres had two great chances but could not score.
But City held firm - with skipper Dunne outstanding - for the draw which keeps them in fifth, just a point behind fourth placed Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
Given the prize for victory was fourth spot in the table heading into 2008, it would have been nice if Sven Goran Eriksson had taken the fight to Liverpool right from the start.
Yet the pragmatic Swede has not got City into such a lofty position with free flowing, attack-at-all-costs tactics.
By half-time, Elano in particular must have been sick of seeing Jamie Carragher in his face. The Liverpool defender, partnered by Alvaro Arbeloa as Sami Hyypia was ruled out with an ankle problem, was on hand to make a tackle or a block every time the South American came close to threatening.
As a result, City did not manage one single effort on goal during the opening period, although Dunne should have done better with a glancing header from Martin Petrov's corner which ended up bouncing out for a throw-in.
Frustration
But, to Liverpool's frustration, it was the same story at the other end where Dunne and Micah Richards were even more impressive than Carragher in their joint handling of FernandoTorres.
Fortunate to escape wrestling the 15-goal forward to the floor in one early skirmish, Richards used his strength and speed to blunt Liverpool's star striker, with Dunne taking up the baton when necessary in equally formidable fashion.
England Under 21 keeper Joe Hart needed a couple of attempts to smother Harry Kewell's angled drive midway through the half, while it was Kewell's cross that led to Fabio Aurelio lashing a speculative effort narrowly wide on the half-hour.
The suspicion remained Liverpool would eventually find a way through and within five minutes of the restart they had nearly done so three times.
After prodding one shot straight at Hart, Torres then found himself charging onto a Steven Gerrard pass.
The young City keeper advanced quickly but was powerless to prevent Torres nudging the ball past.
For one awful moment, it looked as though Richards and Richard Dunne would get in each other's way as they raced back to clear before they both realised the effort was not going in and ushered it wide.
Then, Gerrard curled a free-kick narrowly beyond Hart's left-hand post after Richards had fouled Torres.
Hart tipped over from Yossi Benayoun and Gerrard fired wide as Liverpool maintained their offensive, with City barely able to get out of their own half.
The introduction of Rolando Bianchi was designed to relieve some of the pressure, but it did not really work as Benayoun and Gerrard peppered the City goal after the £8.8million Italian's arrival.
But the Blues, and Dunne in particular, would not yield. The Irishman booted clear after Hart had denied Kuyt and when he slid in to block Benayoun's goalbound effort at the death, few would deny the defender deserved a share of the spoils.
| Manchester City |
Team Statistics |
Liverpool |
| 0 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
Shots on Target |
6 |
| 2 |
Shots off Target |
10 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
6 |
| 2 |
Corners |
9 |
| 7 |
Fouls |
9 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
7 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 74.6 |
Passing Success |
82.3 |
| 31 |
Tackles |
26 |
| 77.4 |
Tackles Success |
73.1 |
| 40.3 |
Possession |
59.7 |
| 51.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.9 |
|
