Virgil van Dijk described Liverpool's goalless draw with Leeds United as "frustrating" but urged his team-mates to bounce back in their next Premier League match with Fulham.

With top-four rivals Chelsea and Manchester United drawing ahead of Sunday's clash at Anfield, Arne Slot's side were unable to find a way past Leeds' stern defensive rearguard.

Hugo Ekitike squandered a glorious chance in the first half as he got his header all wrong from Jeremie Frimpong's cross, before Van Dijk headed wide just after the break.

And the Reds could have ended the game with nothing at all, but had the offside flag to thank when Dominic Calvert-Lewin lofted the ball over Alisson Becker in the 81st minute.

Indeed, Liverpool registered an expected goals (xG) tally of 1.96 from their 19 shots, their highest total without scoring in a Premier League match at Anfield since April 2024.

It was also the first time that Liverpool had played out a 0-0 draw in 117 matches in al competitions, since December 2023 against rivals Manchester United.

"Listen, before the game, it was always going to be a tough game, it showed. We didn't create that many chances today, that was the frustrating part," Van Dijk said.

"I think we defended well, obviously kept the clean sheet, but obviously you want to win, we should have done better in the last part of the game.

"It was very tight, midfielders close to the defenders, back five, obviously a lot of intensity they put in, in their way of defending.

"You have to be patient but play with the right pace, intention. It's easy to say these things, but on the pitch it's never that easy.

"We take the point, start of the year, there's no time to dwell."

Liverpool have now drawn their last three Premier League matches against newly promoted sides, their longest run without victory since April 2021 (four games).

It was a result that saw them miss the chance to create some breathing space between them and their top-four rivals, though they still remain in the final Champions League spot.

The Opta supercomputer has assigned Liverpool a 59.7% chance of finishing in the top four, better than Chelsea (18.8%) and United (6.7%).

And Van Dijk's earlier comments were echoed by Frimpong, who told Sky Sports: "It is really frustrating, we wanted to win the game. They defended really well.

"It ended 0-0, very frustrating but we go onto the next game. We tried but maybe we didn’t try hard enough. We had chances and maybe I should have delivered the ball better."

Another key moment in the contest came early on when Ekitike was held by Jaka Bijol as he entered the box, before the Frenchman laid the ball off to Florian Wirtz to shoot.

"I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that one of my players stay on their feet," Slot said.

"It happened against West Ham that Lucas Paqueta should have got a second yellow but one of my players stayed on his feet.

"It's just a team who we are and it's not recognised. I saw Leeds players going down in the second half. The questions is, should we change or not? I don't think we should.

"If he goes down it probably would have been a red card and a penalty and that would have increased our chances of winning."