Premier League
Man Utd0West Brom0

Manchester United 0-0 West Bromwich Albion

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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

Manchester United
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

Heatmap
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)

Ben Foster
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."

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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).

Line-ups

Man Utd

  • 1de Gea
  • 25A Valencia
  • 3Bailly
  • 5RojoBooked at 43mins
  • 18Young
  • 16Carrick
  • 27FellainiBooked at 90mins
  • 14Lingard
  • 22MkhitaryanSubstituted forRooneyat 74'minutesBooked at 90mins
  • 11Martial
  • 19Rashford

Substitutes

  • 10Rooney
  • 17Blind
  • 20Romero
  • 24Fosu-Mensah
  • 36Darmian
  • 38Tuanzebe
  • 42Willock

West Brom

  • 1Foster
  • 25Dawson
  • 23McAuley
  • 6Evans
  • 2NyomBooked at 47mins
  • 22ChadliSubstituted forYacobat 67'minutesBooked at 90mins
  • 24Fletcher
  • 8LivermoreBooked at 87mins
  • 11Brunt
  • 14McCleanSubstituted forMorrisonat 57'minutes
  • 4Robson-KanuSubstituted forRondónat 70'minutes

Substitutes

  • 5Yacob
  • 7Morrison
  • 9Rondón
  • 12M Wilson
  • 13Myhill
  • 34Harper
  • 47Field
Referee:
Mike Dean
Attendance:
75,397

Match Stats

Home TeamMan UtdAway TeamWest Brom
Possession
Home75%
Away25%
Shots
Home18
Away3
Shots on Target
Home3
Away1
Corners
Home6
Away1
Fouls
Home15
Away13

Live Text

Match ends, Manchester United 0, West Bromwich Albion 0.

Full Time

Second Half ends, Manchester United 0, West Bromwich Albion 0.

Booking

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card.

Booking

Claudio Yacob (West Bromwich Albion) is shown the yellow card.

Booking

Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card.

Foul by Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

Claudio Yacob (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Foul by Ashley Young (Manchester United).

Darren Fletcher (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Attempt blocked. Jesse Lingard (Manchester United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Michael Carrick.

Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Foul by Claudio Yacob (West Bromwich Albion).

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Ben Foster.

Attempt saved. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner.

Booking

Jake Livermore (West Bromwich Albion) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Ashley Young (Manchester United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Foul by Jake Livermore (West Bromwich Albion).

Attempt saved. Darren Fletcher (West Bromwich Albion) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Chris Brunt.

Foul by Marcos Rojo (Manchester United).

Salomón Rondón (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Attempt missed. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Ashley Young.

Jesse Lingard (Manchester United) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Foul by Nyom (West Bromwich Albion).

Foul by Anthony Martial (Manchester United).

Jonny Evans (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Gareth McAuley.

Substitution

Substitution, Manchester United. Wayne Rooney replaces Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Foul by Antonio Valencia (Manchester United).

Chris Brunt (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Attempt saved. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Jesse Lingard.

Substitution

Substitution, West Bromwich Albion. Salomón Rondón replaces Hal Robson-Kanu.

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Jonny Evans.

Substitution

Substitution, West Bromwich Albion. Claudio Yacob replaces Nacer Chadli.

Attempt saved. Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Manchester United) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Darren Fletcher.

Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Chris Brunt.

Jesse Lingard (Manchester United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Foul by Nyom (West Bromwich Albion).

Foul by Jesse Lingard (Manchester United).

Jonny Evans (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

goal

As It Stands

TeamPWDLGDPts
1Chelsea2922343769
2Tottenham2918833662
3Liverpool3017852759
4Man City2817652457
5Man Utd28141131953
6Arsenal2715572250
7Everton3014881950
8West Brom3012810144
9Stoke309912-1136
10Southampton289712-334
11Bournemouth309714-1234
12Watford299713-1434
13Leicester299614-1233
14West Ham309615-1333
15Burnley309516-1332
16Crystal Palace299416-931
17Swansea298318-2727
18Hull307617-3127
19Middlesbrough2841014-1322
20Sunderland295519-2720
View full Premier League table

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