Manchester United lost 0-0 to Sunderland, missing out on a chance to take third place in the Premier League.
Sunderland will feel they deserved more given the balance of play, as both Noah Sadiki and Brian Bobby were denied by the excellent goalkeeping of Senne Ramens.
Despite their dominant performance, United could have scored in stoppage time when Matheus Cunha was denied by Robin Rufus, his first shot on target of the match.
The result leaves United six points behind fourth-placed Liverpool, who need one more point from their remaining two games to secure third place.
United made five changes from the team that beat Liverpool, with Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount starting, and Casemiro was ruled out with a minor injury.
Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee (left) and Sunderland’s Granit Xhaka compete for the ball
Sunderland enjoyed most of the possession and a nice exchange of one-touch passes in midfield involving Enzo Le Fe ended with the ball finding its way to Sadiki, who forced Lamence into a low save.
The Black Cats almost broke the deadlock when Le Fee threaded a pass to Blobby, but the striker’s shot was pushed away by the away goalkeeper.
Another great chance saw Blobby flick the ball to Lutcharel Gertruida, but the defender’s shot deflected off the post.
The visitors pressed on in the final moments, Bruno Fernandes’ low shot deflected behind the back for a corner kick, and Cunha’s powerful shot was saved by Robin Roofs.
With seconds remaining, Fernandes crossed to Brian Mbuemo on the edge of the area, but the winger’s shot was blocked and the difference was shared.
Carrick: Let’s score.
Michael Carrick told Sky Sports:
“We got the point. I think it’s always good to have a clean sheet. I think we’ve scored a lot of goals and created a lot of chances this season. This is just one of those games, you know, difficult games. It was a very reasonable point and in the end we almost won.”
“There were some changes today and I thought the spirit and attitude of the players as a whole was really good.
“When you get to the end of a season after a long period of time, it’s easy to get exhausted and focus on finishing the season. Will it be a perfect game? I think we probably went into the game without expecting a perfect game and without understanding the situation and the changes.”
“That’s the way it is. It’s something we have to overthink and not be negative at all because there’s not a lot of negatives. We understand that we can be a little bit better than we were at this particular time today.”
“We need to keep improving and keep trying. Let’s take the positives and play with confidence.
“It’s a tough league. It’s a difficult league to get results. We can just take one point from here today.”
Merce: It wasn’t a good result or performance.
Sky Sports’ Paul Merson responded to Carrick’s post-match comments:
“His words weren’t right. When you’re a Man United manager you have to go out and say: ‘We come here and expect to win’.
“I think it was a good result today, it wasn’t a good result or performance.
“I’m worried about next season. They’ll be in the Champions League and the squad looks shallow. Mount is playing in the center of midfield, Mainu and Zirksee are playing up front.”
“If we want to be in the top four next season, we need to invest in our players.”
Xhaka urges humility after Manchester United draw
Sunderland midfielder Granit Xhaka told Sky Sports:
“It was almost a perfect game. We created so many chances against a really good team. When you have so many chances, of course you have to score. We had good momentum. This is part of the process and to keep believing in ourselves.”
“The answer is very simple: stay humble. We just got promoted. The demands are very high. We know where we need to improve and we stay humble and stay kind because we are getting there.”
“We are not thinking about Europe. We have two games left and we want to finish as well as possible. Let’s get a point and see where we are at the end. We want to finish on a good note. We need that if we want to survive in the Premier League. We can be proud of ourselves.”
