Manchester United 0-0 West Bromwich Albion (original) (raw)
Media caption,
Man Utd 0-0 West Brom: Jose Mourinho in disbelief at question
Manchester United dropped further points in their pursuit of the Premier League's top four with a goalless draw against West Brom at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho's side have now drawn 11 games in the top flight - more than any other side and including eight at home - and are in fifth place, four points behind rivals Manchester City.
Striker Marcus Rashford forcing Baggies keeper Ben Foster into two stunning, full-stretch saves was the closest the hosts came to a goal.
United dominated possession as West Brom sat back with all 11 men behind the ball, but managed to carve open just one clear-cut opportunity in the first half, Anthony Martial's close-range header drifting wide.
The impressive Marouane Fellaini dragged a shot off target in the second period and Henrikh Mkhitaryan came close with a chipped effort.
West Brom's best chance came when keeper David de Gea spilled former United midfielder Darren Fletcher's long-range strike onto the crossbar.
Frustrating start to April
Image caption,
Manchester United's run of games this month
United stretched their unbeaten run in the league to 19 games, but that will be of little consolation to the Red Devils who begin their hectic April with a draw, and have now dropped 19 points at Old Trafford.
They have six further league and two Europa League games to play this month, and with resources already stretched, winning the European competition looks likely to be their best route into next season's Champions League.
Missing the attacking threat of top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the creativity of midfielders Paul Pogba and Juan Mata, United struggled to break West Brom down and were limited to long-range strikes in an attempt to open the scoring.
They had 75% possession - much of it in front of the Baggies' backline - and managed 18 shots, but only three of them were on target, two of those being brilliantly kept out by former United man Foster.
Rashford, 19, was given the opportunity to lead the line, but the Englishman has failed to repeat the exploits of last season, now going 19 Premier League games without scoring.
Bouncing Baggies
Image source, Opta
Image caption,
Manchester United's dominance of the ball is shown by the heatmap on the left, having much of the ball in the middle third of the pitch. The hosts had 762 passes, compared to West Brom's 261. The Baggies rarely threatened in the opposition penalty area, as shown on the right heatmap
West Brom boss Tony Pulis organised his team to make sure they came away from the match with at least a point and it paid off.
Pulis has the confidence in his players to let the opposition come at them, but the centre-back pairing of Jonny Evans and Gareth McAuley made 13 clearances each and a combined eight interceptions.
The clean sheet was their first on the road since the opening day of the season, having gone 13 games without a shutout in between.
Although West Brom were worthy of their point, they could even have nicked all three points late on when Spain goalkeeper De Gea let Fletcher's strike through his grasp, but the ball came back off the woodwork.
The result consolidated the Baggies in eighth place in the table, eight points ahead of Pulis' former side Stoke.
Man of the match - Ben Foster (West Brom)
Image source, Rex Features
Image caption,
Foster made three excellent stops to earn West Brom a point against his old side
'Resilience and commitment was fantastic'
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho: "We have a lot of draws this season. Teams come here just to defend. Goalkeepers come here to be man of the match. We cannot score a goal even when we are one on one.
"We beat everyone on quality of play and direction of the game, possession, creation and ambition - but we drew too many matches."
West Brom boss Tony Pulis told BBC Sport: "If we won at the end, it would have been unjust. We are really pleased with the effort and commitment they put in today, United have some really good players. No matter how well set up you are, you will always be on your back foot.
"The group plays very well together, they play very compact but we had opportunities to spring out of it like against Arsenal. Their resilience and commitment was fantastic."
Media caption,
Man Utd 0-0 West Brom: Pulis pleased with point, but could do better
What next?
Both teams have a quick turnaround. United come up against Everton in the Premier League on Tuesday (kick-off 20:00 BST), while West Brom face Watford on the same day (kick-off 19:45 BST).
Theatre of Dreams or Screams? The stats
- This is now Mourinho's longest unbeaten run in the Premier League (won 10, drawn nine) since October 2005 (40 games with Chelsea).
- United in total had 18 shots but only three were on target, while West Brom had just three shots in total - one on target.
- Manchester United have drawn 0-0 at home eight times in the Premier League since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013. There were no goalless draws at home in the four years prior to that.
- West Brom have failed to score in four of their past six league games at Old Trafford.
- However, the Baggies are just the second team in all competitions to stop Manchester United from scoring at home this season, along with Burnley.
- Only Chelsea's Thibaut Courtois (13) has kept more clean sheets than De Gea in the Premier League this season (11).
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