Crystal Palace 0, Manchester United 0
Manchester United drew another Premier League blank with a goalless draw at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Reds secured a 21st consecutive undefeated game away from home in a very insipid game which ended in their third 0-0 in a row.
It was the sixth 0-0 result in Premier League for this term for the Reds – their joint most in the competition along with 2004/05 and 2016/17.
The result left United a massive 14 points behind league leaders Manchester City who will test their away record to the limit on Sunday.
The Reds are seven points clear of Chelsea, who have a game in hand, in fifth place as they began to look more towards securing Champions League football than tackling rivals City for the title.
David De Gea was absent for personal reasons as his place in the team was taken by Dean Henderson in one of four changes for Manchester United at Crystal Palace.
Henderson was joined in the side by Eric Bailly, Nemanja Matic, and Edinson Cavani as Victor Lindelof, Scott McTominay, and Daniel James stepped down to the bench.
Anthony Martial took a knock in training on Monday and missed out on the squad and Reds boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was unsure if he would be fit to play against Manchester City on Sunday – and they certainly missed the extra creativity of the injured Paul Pogba as Bruno Fernandes struggled again.
United’s hosts were still without ex Reds winger Wilfried Zaha through injury but they still created good half chances in an open first quarter.
Andros Townsend’s early whipped in free kick saw Henderson called into action early on and Townsend later delivered a great cross to Christian Benteke who blazed it over in a bright start for United’s hosts.
Henderson also came out to catch a corner as Palace decided to test him early and often.
Vicente Guaita had to be on his toes when Matic’s 12th minute shot took a wicked deflection off James McCarthy and looped up and wide thanks to a fingertip save by the Spanish keeper.
It proved to be United’s only shot on target in another disappointing show as the Reds seemed to slowly disappear into the rising mist at Selhurst Park.
Marcus Rashford fired wide of the near post when Luke Shaw squared the ball to him from the left.
But for all of United’s probing and prodding the Reds remained static and could not breach Guaita’s net while their hosts didn’t seem ambitious in front of goal either as both sides contested a largely forgettable first half which seemed to get slower over time.
Andre Ayew at least forced a save out of Henderson in the 50th minute with rising shot that didn’t challenge the Reds keeper to level up the shots on target in this sterile game.
But that was effectively it as far as goal bound shots went.
Luka Milivojevic’s free kick came off the United wall and the loose ball was hit wide by Townsend.
Daniel James didn’t connect with a free header after Shaw hung an inviting cross into the area which was deflected away by Patrick van Aanholt while Mason Greenwood curled a shot over as United continued to labour.
Shaw’s right footed strike went wide while van Aanholt found himself one on one with just Henderson to beat but his shot was smothered although the Dutchman was offside anyway in the last meaningful contribution from a dull match.
The lethargic Reds will have to find a lot more energy when they travel to City on Sunday if they hope to escape with even a point.
MATCH STATS – Crystal Palace 0, Manchester United 0
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Ward, Kouyate, Cahill, van Aanholt, Milivojevic, McCarthy (Riedwald 63), Townsend, Eze (Schlupp 84), J Ayew, Benteke
Crystal Palace subs not used: Butland, Dann, Matte, Wickham, Batshuayi, Kelly, Hannam
Man Utd: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw, Fred (McTominay 74), Matic, Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford, Cavani (James 76)
Man Utd subs not used: Grant, Lindelof, Diallo, Telles, Williams, Tuanzebe, Shoretire
Referee: Andre Marriner