Thursday 18 May 2017 07:44, UK
Sergio Romero saved an early penalty from Manolo Gabbiadini as Manchester United played out a goalless draw with Southampton at St Mary's Stadium.
The United goalkeeper, who was starting in place of David de Gea, denied Gabbiadini after Eric Bailly was adjudged to have handled a high ball despite replays showing the incident occurred outside the penalty box.
There were chances for both sides to win it after that, with Romero keeping Southampton at bay and Anthony Martial striking the post for United, but a breakthrough never arrived.
Jose Mourinho rotated his side again with one eye on next week's Europa League final, making four changes from Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Tottenham and leaving the likes of Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera and Michael Carrick on the bench.
Claude Puel also made wholesale alterations from his side's 2-1 win at Middlesbrough, and the much-changed Saints should have had an early opener when Gabbiadini was denied from the spot after just six minutes.
It was a lucky escape for United, and Bailly almost made amends for his error when his low shot was saved by Fraser Forster a few minutes later.
Martial then dragged an effort wide after he was played in by Wayne Rooney, but the game reached half-time with little other goalmouth action.
Southampton stepped up the tempo after the break, with Romero parrying a powerful free kick from Dusan Tadic after Phil Jones had felled Cedric Soares on the edge of the box.
The United 'keeper was called into action again shortly afterwards, first denying Saints midfielder Oriol Romeu, then acrobatically tipping a curling strike from James Ward-Prowse around the post.
Mourinho threw on Carrick, Herrera and Rashford in the closing stages, but it was Martial who came closest to breaking the deadlock.
The Frenchman charged forward before bending his shot off the post with Fraser Forster beaten. The onrushing Mkhitaryan could only blast the rebound earlier.
Southampton did most of the attacking in the final stages, but there was no separating the two sides, with the draw keeping them sixth and eighth respectively.
Player ratings
Southampton: Forster (6), Cedric (6) ,Stephens (6), Yoshida (6), Targett (6), Davis (6), Romeu (7), Ward-Prowse (7), Tadic (5), Gabbiadini (4), Redmond (5).
Subs: Pied (5), Boufal (6), Rodriguez (5).
Man Utd: Romero (8), Bailly (6), Smalling (5), Jones (6), Darmian (5), Fellaini (6), Tuanzebe (6), Mata (5), Mkhitaryan (4), Martial (6), Rooney (5).
Subs: Herrera (5), Rashford (5), Carrick (5).
Man of the match: Sergio Romero.
