Manchester United held 0-0 at Sunderland

Posted Sunday, October 03, 2010 by

SUNDERLAND, England (AP)—Manchester United faces the prospect of losing further ground on Premier League leader Chelsea after a 0-0 draw at an impressive Sunderland.

United is three points behind Chelsea, which faces Arsenal at home on Sunday, but it could have been worse for Alex Ferguson’s side, which has drawn all four of its away games in the league this season.

“Sunderland had the most chances in the game and I have to say we were fantastic defensively,” Ferguson said. “That’s the area in which we have been leaking goals and throwing games away this season, so I am pleased with that. It was a very determined Sunderland team, their home record this season has been very, very good, so I am not pleased but I am satisfied.”

Kick-off at the Stadium of Light was delayed by 20 minutes after a sewage pipe burst above the visitors’ dressing room, and when play eventually got under way, the hosts dominated.

Sunderland, which has already drawn against Arsenal and Liverpool and beaten Manchester City this season, attacked at will.

After 16 minutes, Steed Malbranque collected Lee Cattermole’s through-ball and was one-on-one with Edwin van der Sar but the Dutchman blocked superbly.

Nedum Onuoha’s shot from Ahmed Elmohamady’s cross was then cleared off the line before finally Sunderland was denied by the woodwork when Bolo Zenden’s vicious 20 yard (meter) shot smacked the post.

Ferguson, already without the injured Wayne Rooney, had opted to drop top scorer Dimitar Berbatov to the bench and give Michael Owen a rare start in the Premier League but the former England striker failed to shine, and Sunderland ‘keeper Simon Mignolet did not have to make a save in the first half.

Berbatov replaced Owen at half time and the Bulgarian striker had the ball in the net within three minutes but from an offside position.

But while United looked more threatening in attack, the defense still looked vulnerable and Nemanja Vidic blocked a deflected Zenden free-kick as well as Ahmed Elmohamady’s follow-up.

Ferguson threw on Javier Hernandez and Bebe in search of a winner and Mignolet was called into action after 77 minutes when he pushed away Nani’s fierce effort, while Berbatov shot narrowly wide.

But defeat would have been very harsh on Sunderland and manager Steve Bruce, who is nonetheless still looking for his first win against former manager Ferguson.

“If I am going to be critical, we have to probably take one of those chances. Against these teams, you don’t get many,” Bruce told the Press Association. “But we have taken all the big teams on and given as good as we got.

“Looking at it now, you are always delighted to take something from it. I have being going for years to try to beat him and I thought today might have been the day. We even tried to sabotage the toilets - that didn’t quite work either!”