Manchester United draw a blank as Southampton hold on for hard-fought point at Old Trafford

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Another draw and yet more points dropped but no late drama like against Leicester City or Burnley. This time, against an organised but fallible Southampton outfit, Manchester United did not show any of the invention or spirit that made those two results easier to swallow. Instead, this was a performance of few positives from a team that knows it has lost the battle it most wanted to win.

A point here, United’s third successive league draw, was not even enough to preserve their league position, with Chelsea moving into second. Only a few weeks ago, United seemed destined to at least finish as ‘the best of the rest’ behind a rampant Manchester City but victory for Pep Guardiola’s side at Crystal Palace on New Year’s Eve will put them 17 points clear of their neighbours. Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, needs to start looking over his shoulder.

Southampton were there to be picked off, having come into this game on the back of a 5-2 pummelling at Tottenham Hotspur, but an efficient defensive display from the visitors proved enough to keep the number of clear-cut chances down to a minimum and shut out a United side lacking in imagination. The game’s most notable moment was a regrettable one. Romelu Lukaku was stretchered off in the opening stages after clashing heads with Wesley Hoedt.

Despite the goalless 90 minutes that were to follow, either side could have taken an early lead. Lukaku spurned United’s first presentable opportunity, heading over from inside the penalty area after connecting with Juan Mata’s cross. At the other end, David de Gea did well to palm away James Ward-Prowse’s placed effort after Sofiane Boufal’s probing work down the right.

This lively start was overshadowed, though, by the head injury to Lukaku, which caused considerable concern among his manager and his team-mates. The Belgian lay still on the ground for six minutes, dazed but conscious, before he was delicately carried off on a stretcher, wearing a neck brace and an oxygen mask. All four sides of Old Trafford stood to applaud him off.

Once play re-started, Hoedt was heavily involved again and wasted Southampton’s best opening of the first half. After peeling away from Nemanja Matic at a corner, the visiting centre-back was granted a free header at De Gea’s goal but he failed to connect cleanly, glancing the ball wide of the far post.

Marcus Rashford, Lukaku’s replacement, did much the same as Hoedt on the half hour mark when he struggled to direct Ashley Young’s cross on target. This was Rashford’s chance to impress in a central striker role, his preferred position, but it was one of his fellow academy graduates who came closest to finding a breakthrough for United before the interval.

The in-form Jesse Lingard felt he deserved a penalty after trying to control a bouncing ball and seeing it strike Maya Yoshida’s raised arm. Most around Old Trafford agreed but not referee Craig Pawson who waved away all protests. Lingard tried again on the cusp of half time, glancing at a cross from the man who he has replaced as United’s No 10, Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It skimmed wide.

United had grown in dominance as the first half went on but still struggled to test Alex McCarthy, starting in Southampton’s goal with regular first-choice Fraser Forster dropped. Indeed, when the first clear-cut chance of the second 45 minutes came, it was De Gea who was forced into action.

The opening stemmed from a lapse by Luke Shaw, bested by Boufal early on and generally suffering a day to forget against his former club. This time, Shaw allowed Ward-Prowse to advance down the right flank unopposed and by the time he realised his error, Southampton’s frontman Shane Long, without a goal in 322 days, was in position to end his drought. Long would have to wait a little longer, though. De Gea saved his low, placed effort with an outstretched boot.

The Stretford End made pointed, repeated calls for Anthony Martial to be introduced and Mourinho eventually granted them their wish in the 65th minute, with a rusty Mkhitaryan replaced. Martial duly won a free-kick from Oriol Romeu on the edge of Southampton’s penalty area following his first mazy run at the visitors’ defence, but Young dragged the resulting kick high and wide of McCarthy’s top right-hand corner.

Martial’s introduction was no cure-all though and still United lacked urgency. As the final quarter of an hour approached, Boufal and Long were granted all the time they needed to set up Dusan Tadic on the edge of the area. The Serbian should have done better with the space provided but merely trickled a shot wide of the upright.

United thought they had found a reprieve a few minutes later when, in a crowded penalty area, Matic poked a shot towards McCarthy’s bottom right-hand corner and Pogba followed up to tap in. He should have left it. The assistant referee’s flag was raised on the far side and the goal was ruled out. Had it stood, it would not have been deserved.