Defiant Suarez and co. held to stalemate

Amid the furore surrounding Suarez following the FA's harsh and pre-mature decision to find him guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra, it would have been easy to forget that Liverpool had another festive fixture last night. As it turned out, those unaware of the match hardly missed a Christmas cracker, as the Reds were held to only their second scoreless stalemate of the season. There was plenty of goalmouth action at both ends and goalkeepers Pepe Reina and Ali Al-Habsi were kept busy throughout the night, however neither side managed to break the deadlock and claim all three points.

During the warm up the players donned shirts emblazoned with 'Suarez 7' on the back and a picture of the Uruguayan celebrating a goal on the front, in a clear sign of support for their under-fire teammate. The squad also released a joint statement whole-heartedly supporting Suarez in the fight to clear his name.

Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez returned to the starting line-up, replacing Craig Bellamy and Jonjo Shelvey respectively. The major piece of team news, though, saw Luis Suarez start up front, Dalglish clearly deeming him to have sufficient mental strength to cope with playing despite the last few difficult days he has had to endure.

Only four minutes in Suarez was demonstrating his talent, this time sublimely nutmegging an opponent on the edge of the box following neat approach play from the visitors, who were in the ascendancy during the opening exchanges. Unfortunately the delightful piece of skill came to nothing and Al-Habsi collected Skrtel's low shot with ease six minutes later.

Wigan had barely taken a step out of their own half by this stage, however on 12 minutes they suddenly broke forward and almost opened the scoring against the run of play following a threatening goalmouth scramble. This improvement from Roberto Martinez's men was sustained, with Reina doing well to hold Figueroa's effort and left scrambling by a fizzed 35-yard effort from Diame that flew into the side netting. Gomez also found space and shot just over the bar, as the relegation threatened Latics placed their opponents with top-four aspirations under pressure.

Glen Johnson's recent improvement defensively has been notable; with the Reds' number 2 keeping the enthusiastic and promising young right back Martin Kelly out of the team and retaining a place in the League's stingiest back four. On 26 minutes, though, he demonstrated that he still has a lot to offer in attack as well, the England international powering forward purposefully and exchanging passes with Maxi but disappointingly seeing his shot stopped by the alert and out-rushing Al-Habsi.

Wigan's Victor Moses remained the hosts' main attacking outlet, drilling an effort at Reina and later storming past several Liverpool defenders in what was a magnificent solo run before forcing Reina to beat away his ferocious shot.

The first half had been a largely even affair, with the home side coming back strongly into the contest after the Reds had controlled the opening stages. The second half frustratingly followed a similar pattern. As per, Suarez was at the heart of the attacking action soon after the restart. First, his free kick was well tipped over by Al-Habsi, before Caldwell clearly blocked his acrobatic effort with his hand.

Referee Michael Oliver inevitably and correctly pointed to the spot and, surprisingly considering prolific penalty taker Dirk Kuyt was playing, Charlie Adam stepped up to take the spot kick. Unfortunately, his poor penalty was straight down the middle and at the ideal height for Al-Habsi to make yet another good save.

That save seemed to inspire the home side. Gomez collected a pass 30 yards out and tested Reina with a firm shot from range. Moses then broke free down the right and crossed low into the area, with only a fabulous clearance from Skrtel cutting out the danger. Bellamy and Shelvey, Liverpool's heroes from their victory at Villa, were introduced with twenty minutes remaining in an attempt to inspire a late period of sustained pressure on their opponents.

However, unfortunately Wigan looked the more likely to steal all three points late on, Moses unbelievably stabbing wide when presented with a fantastic opportunity to grab a winner and Reina required to act as a sweeper to prevent Di Santo going in on goal after a decent ball over the top evaded the Reds' defence.

Many will see this as two points dropped and, because of where the two teams are in the League, that view certainly has some justification. However, in our last three visits to what is now the DW Stadium we have drawn twice and lost once, which demonstrates that Wigan are one of our bogey sides, particularly on the road. Moreover, on the positive side, we kept our eighth clean sheet of the season, with an impressive seven of those achieved away from Anfield.

On top of that, we continued to play attractive football and created a remarkable 21 goalscoring chances. Unfortunately, yet again Liverpool came up against an inspired keeper on top form. Ali-Al Habsi had a stunning saving accuracy of 100% and was clearly the star performer who earned his side a point. Yes, Wigan posed an attacking threat at times as well, but if it wasn't for their Omani stopper the Reds would have surely claimed another three points away from home.

Liverpool face bottom side Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day and are overwhelming favourites to win the match and heap yet more pressure on Rovers' boss Steve Kean. Three points are a must if we are to keep up with the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea, who lie above us in fifth and fourth respectively.

YNWA