Manchester United frustrated in scoreless draw vs. Hull City
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United missed a chance to gain some ground on its rivals for Champions League qualification by drawing 0-0 at home to relegation-threatened Hull on Wednesday, the latest setback for Jose Mourinho's side in the Premier League.
It was a third straight league draw for United, which dominated the match at Old Trafford but failed to break through because of a mixture of poor finishing and inspired goalkeeping by Elvin Jakupovic.
The top four—Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool—all dropped points on Tuesday but United couldn't take advantage against a team that started the game in last place. United stayed sixth, four off fourth-place Liverpool and a distant 14 points behind leader Chelsea.
Burnley and Stoke had already held United to draws at Old Trafford this season, despite being under pressure for most of the game, and this was another 90 minutes of frustration for United.
Hull even came close to winning, with Lazar Markovic—one of a host of January recruits by new manager Marco Silva—curling a shot against the post on a counterattack.
Juan Mata had United's best chance, but Jakupovic produced a brilliant low save to deny the substitute in the 73rd minute. Jakupovic also denied Paul Pogba with flying saves in both first halves, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic wasted a host of half-chances.
To make matters worse for United, in-form center back Phil Jones hobbled off in the 55th minute having pulled up sprinting to make a covering interception.
This was the teams' third meeting in the past month, having recently played each other over two legs in the League Cup semifinals.
Hull's players weren't overawed in those games—they won the second leg at the KCOM Stadium to only narrowly lose out on aggregate—and they defended superbly here, especially center back Harry Maguire.
The point lifted Hull to next-to-last place, with 15 matches remaining.
