Callum Hudson-Odoi appeared to handle the ball in the penalty box during the first half but it went unpunished by referee Stuart Attwell as Chelsea and Manchester United played out a tepid 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.
The reverse fixture earlier on in the season also ended goalless and the stalemate means that the Red Devil’s trail league leaders Manchester City by 12 points with 12 games remaining.
Ole left frustrated
Following the match, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was aggrieved by the referee’s decision to not award his side a crucial penalty: “It was a penalty, one-hundred percent nailed on penalty.
“If that is a natural position for a hand to be, when the ball comes in then I must be blind.”
Despite the result the 48-year-old was happy with his side’s effort in the game: “We wanted to win, we had great pressing, desire and work-rate but what let us down was the quality on the ball and the last pass not being good enough.”
The game lacked a chances as both sides looked to nullify their opponents threats.
The main talking point of the evening came after Marcus Rashford’s free kick was slapped out by Edouard Mendy and the rebound hit Hudson-Odoi’s hand in the box while challenging Mason Greenwood.
There were little signs of appeal from the Red Devil’s at the time but VAR called referee Attwell to the pitch-side monitor to judge for himself, where after long deliberations he turned down the penalty claim.
Great chance for Giroud
Chelsea created half-chances through Olivier Giroud in the first half as the Frenchman latched onto a loose pass from David De Gea and shot at the vacant goal from 25-yards out however he couldn’t direct the ball on target with his first-time effort.
The 34-year-old then came within inches of giving the Blues the lead but narrowly missed Hudson-Odoi’s teasing ball across the face of goal.
The second half started off more lively as Hakim Ziyech’s shot from inside the box produced a magnificent save from De Gea to keep the scores level.
Mason Greenwood then went close for the visitors from the edge of the box as his left-footed strike went narrowly over the bar with Mendy rooted to the spot.
The Chelsea keeper did however make a good reaction save to deny Scott McTominay at the near post after his shot from the edge of the box came through a crowd of players.
As the match went on the two-sides became more cautious in order to avoid defeat and the match petered to a conclusion.
The result means Chelsea failed to capitalise on West Ham’s defeat to move into the top-four and remain one point adrift of the Champions League places.
However there is a quick turnaround for both teams as the two sides are both in action in midweek.
Chelsea travel to Merseyside to face the champions Liverpool in another top-four battle at Anfield on Thurday. While, Manchester United play a day earlier and are again in London to face Crystal Palace.
