Liverpool were held to a poor 0-0 draw at home to West Brom in the Premier League as Alan Pardew's side climbed out of the relegation zone with a hard-fought point.
The Reds had scored 63 goals in 25 competitive games in 2017-18 heading into the Anfield clash but could not find a way through a stubborn Baggies backline, although substitute Dominic Solanke had a late strike ruled out for handball.
Mohamed Salah, who had been directly involved in 23 of those goals after his move from Roma, was particularly wasteful as Liverpool missed the chance to move up to fourth place and were instead overtaken by Tottenham, who beat Brighton and Hove Albion.
Wednesday's draw means Liverpool now have seven draws and two defeats from their first 17 matches of this Premier League campaign and sit a massive 18 points adrift of runaway leaders Manchester City.
West Brom's Hal Robson-Kanu went closest to scoring the opening goal in the first half, the Wales international unlucky to see his 30-yard dipping effort land on the top of the crossbar.
Salah and Sadio Mane missed fine opportunities to break the deadlock after the interval, but visiting goalkeeper Ben Foster was virtually untested despite Jurgen Klopp's men dominating the ball.
And while Liverpool’s unbeaten run at Anfield now stands at 15 games in all competitions, this was their third straight top-flight draw at home and another two dropped points that could prove costly in the race for Champions League qualification.
‘After Manchester City’s recent form, maybe they’re the underdogs against Manchester United!’ Former Red Devils defender on this weekend’s derby
‘Arteta, Alonso, Emery, me… none of us were physical players – we needed the understanding of the game. That probably helped us move into management’: Premier League boss reveals reasons for natural career progression
