Highlights: David de Gea stars as Manchester United beat wasteful Liverpool 3-0

David de Gea made a ton of saves to help Manchester United beat Liverpool

Manchester United welcomed Liverpool at Old Trafford having been beaten 3-0 in this fixture last season. It seemed like a role reversal today as the home side won by the same scoreline.

Manchester United came into this match having won their last five matches while Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League and held to a draw by Sunderland at Anfield.

Raheem Sterling led the line for Liverpool as both the teams started with three defenders at the back. Liverpool made a bright start to the game and the first real chance fell to the makeshift forward, Sterling when Adam Lallana put the ball behind the United defence. Sterling’s tame effort was saved by David de Gea and less than thirty seconds later, Manchester United were celebrating Wayne Rooney’s opener in the 12th minute.

The home side then got a hold of the game and Juan Mata’s goal, which should have been offside, extended their lead. In the post-match interview Robin van Persie said, “"I have to be honest, I got a touch for Mata's goal so put that down as an assist."

Despite trailing by two goals, Liverpool kept on creating chances, but were quite wasteful and the brilliance of De Gea meant the teams went into the break at 2-0.

Brendan Rodgers brought on Mario Balotelli for Lallana in the second half to change things. De Gea, who had a fantastic game, was arguably the best player on the pitch and kept the score at 2-0 when he stopped Sterling, who intercepted a poor back pass, from scoring for Liverpool.

The Spaniard was once again in action and miraculously prevented Balotelli from scoring his first Premier League goal for the Reds. The Italian took a first time shot when Sterling found him in the box, but his shot was saved by the Spaniard.

In the 71st minute, a Manchester United counter-attack saw Robin van Persie score the third goal of the match. The match finished 3-0, but the Red Devils had de Gea to thank for a clean sheet as Liverpool had 19 attempts on goal. This result meant United are 8 points behind leaders Chelsea and 5 behind neighbours Manchester City, while Liverpool languish in ninth place.

Here are the highlights of the game:

Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool: Wayne Rooney (12’)

Antonio Valencia carried the ball extremely well on the right wing and found himself in acres of space after he nutmegged Joe Allen. He spotted Rooney at the edge of the box and laid the ball for the Englishman to shoot.

Brad Jones went the wrong way and Rooney opened the scoring with a right-footed shot from just inside the box.

Manchester United 2-0 Liverpool: Juan Mata (40’)

Ashley Young wrong’footed Jordan Henderson on the left wing and crossed the ball into the box. Van Persie flicked the ball on to find an unmarked Juan Mata near the far post who headed the ball in to increase his team’s lead.

Juan Mata had strayed offside though after van Persie’s header, but the officials failed to spot it and left Liverpool with a mountain to climb.

Manchester United 2-0 Liverpool: David de Gea – save

Raheem Sterling ran into the box but his angle was narrowed down by Phil Jones and he turned to find Mario Balotelli who was free in the box. The Italian’s first-time shot looked like reducing United’s lead, but de Gea pulled off a brilliant save to deny Balotelli his first Premier League goal for Liverpool. This save from de Gea was one of many that the custodian was required to make to keep a clean sheet.

Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool: Robin van Persie (71’)

A swift Manchester United counter-attack found Rooney on the left-flank and his left-footed cross was straight at Dejan Lovren who’s fluffed clearance fell to Juan Mata. The Spaniard had the vision to lay the ball for van Persie and the Dutchman made no mistake as he side-footed the ball into an empty net after Brad Jones made a mistake in judging the ball.