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Manchester United fired a third straight blank shot and had to settle for a point at Crystal Palace for all but to see the end of their Premier League title challenge.
A day after rivals Manchester City posted 21 straight wins to open a 15-point gap at the top, the Red Devils were frustrated in a goalless draw with the Eagles and have only won one of their last five games in the division.
The chances were few and far between and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side has now been 285 minutes without a goal heading into Sunday’s derby at the Etihad.
Full match details
David de Gea missed the trip to London for personal reasons and as a result Dean Henderson had only his third start in the league this season.
In foggy and cold conditions, the United goalkeeper was called into action early at Selhurst Park, but picked up two crosses with ease as Christian Benteke volleyed from a promising position for the hosts.
Opponent Vicente Guaita was called in in the 13th minute and produced a good save to deny Nemanja Matic’s deflected shot before Edinson Cavani peeked out from the resulting corner with initial end-to-end exchanges.
Marcus Rashford should have broken the standoff shortly after, but he veered off after Luke Shaw chose him within the area.
Suddenly it turned into attack on defense with Solskjaer’s men completely dominating and Mason Greenwood had a deflected effort in the 23rd minute.
Palace was able to weather the storm, but they were in debt to Joel Ward at the edge of the break. Aaron Wan-Bissaka threw a tantalizing ball into the front of the goal and only a wonderful sliding punt from right-back Ward prevented a pass to Cavani.
Roy Hodgson saw his team start the second period strong and after Benteke’s acrobatic effort was diverted, Jordan Ayew forced Henderson into action with a fierce drive six minutes after the restart.
With fog making visibility in the capital difficult, United in their zebra uniforms were yet to earn their stripes and Andros Townsend fired wide in another warning to the visiting team that had not engaged after the interval.
After shooting blanks in his last two games with Chelsea and Real Sociedad, Solskajer’s options on the bench were limited with Anthony Martial absent due to a minor knee injury and frustration was mounting for the visitors after he Captain Harry Maguire and Rashford exchanged words.
Scott McTominay and Daniel James were summoned over time running, but the latter was surprisingly featured in Cavani’s place.
He saw Greenwood now in the middle and snuggled in from 20 yards before Shaw opened. There was still time for one more chance but he went to the Palace.
Left-back Patrick Van Aanholt was played, but Henderson made sure it finished 0-0 with a crucial save as United followed City by 14 points with 11 league games to go.
Palace extended its unbeaten streak to three games after another tenacious display and has kept five clean sheets since the turn of the year.
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