Chelsea and Manchester United settled for a goalless draw in an encounter at Stamford Bridge that saw goal opportunities come at a premium.
The draw means Thomas Tuchel is the first Chelsea manager to not concede a single goal in his opening four Premier League home games.
Also, Chelsea and Manchester United have now drawn 0-0 in both of their league meetings in a season for just the second time, having last done so back in 1921-22. Chelsea started the brighter of the two sides, but it was United who were almost the recipient of a penalty after VAR’s first major involvement in the match.
Edouard Mendy punched a Marcus Rashford free-kick back into play which saw Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mason Greenwood tussled for the ball, with replays appearing to suggest the ball had struck the Blues man’s hand while in an unnatural position.
The referee consulted his pitch side monitor but stuck with his original decision to deny United a spot kick.
Hudson-Odoi continued to look dangerous down the right and was causing havoc in the United area with early service into Olivier Giroud.
There was a concerning moment for both sides after the half-hour mark when Giroud and Rashford both collided with inanimate objects in full flow.
Giroud clattered the post after narrowly failing to make contact with a diving header, while Rashford took a tumble over the advertising hoardings at the other end.
Chelsea almost broke the deadlock soon after the interval after a brilliant raid down the left from Ben Chilwell.
David De Gea produced an outstanding reaction save to deny Hakim Ziyech’s first-time shot. The rebound fell to half-time substitute Reece James but his shot too was repelled by a Man Utd defender.
Quick feet from Greenwood carved out a yard of space after wrong-footing Andreas Christensen but his left-foot strike flew agonisingly wide by a yard.
United were finally in the ascendancy and forced Mendy into a fine stop at his near post from Scott McTominay.
Mason Mount embarked on a run from deep within his own half all the way into the opposition penalty area, chopped back inside at the final moment but saw his effort blocked.
Both managers shuffled their deck and introduced an array of attacking talent including Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Anthony Martial from the bench.
Despite their best efforts, neither side could forge a winning goal and settled for a hotly-contested 0-0 draw.
