Given both United goals and the majority of the visitors’ threat came down his side, it was not difficult to understand why Alexander-Arnold’s performance was questioned.

With Bruno Fernandes drifting left and the pace of Dalot on that side too, it was a clear plan to try to hurt Liverpool down their right.

More than half of United’s attacks – 54% to be precise – went on that side so he was dribbled past twice which, in itself, is not a huge indictment on Alexander-Arnold’s performance.

Opta also confirmed he recorded no errors leading to a shot, let alone a goal.

The big issue for Alexander-Arnold was that he lost all five of his duels in the match and, as such, failed to halt United’s forays into Liverpool territory when he had the chance.

Moreover, while he was only dribbled past twice, the fact Dalot was given the space to get balls into the box without beating Alexander-Arnold may also concern boss Arne Slot.

On the ball, it was much of what you would expect from the talented, attack-minded right-back. He completed 76.67% of his 60 passes – which was pretty much bang on with his average for the season and created a chance.

That took him to 37 for the campaign, with Ipswich left-back Leif Davis the only defender ahead of him in that category.

Alexander-Arnold was prominent in the early stages of the match at Anfield, coming in off the touchline to find space before looking to pick out a telling pass.

Only Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer and Mohamed Salah can better his 12 big chances created in the Premier League this season, although he did not add to his tally in this game.

Alexander-Arnold remains among the elite creators in European football and while a difficult day in such a high-profile match brought his defending under scrutiny again, it was not so long ago that his improvement in that area – since Slot took charge – was lauded.

“We are talking about a player that won the Champions League and the league title so it’s clear to me that he has been a good defender all his life,” Slot said earlier in the season.

“I think, with him, it is not about if he is capable of doing things, it’s more can his concentration rate constantly be in 100% focus? So this is what we talk about a lot.”