Just as Manchester United looked as though they had finally hit their groove under Ralf Rangnick, they go and loosen their grip on the top four.
United were by far the better team against relegation battlers Watford, and this was shown with the amount of chances the team had compared to the visitors.
The Red Devils created an Expected Goals value of 2.53 to Watford’s 0.51, meaning on a day of average finishing they would have been expected to beat Watford by at least two goals.
Man Utd (2.53) 0-0 (0.51) Watford
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) February 26, 2022
However, this was not the case as a number of United attackers wasted excellent chances to score.
Bruno Fernandes had his fair share in the first half with three good chances. Anthony Elanga had a shot go just wide of the post when he finished off a lovely sequence of play from United.
Cristiano Ronaldo also had his share. He even had the ball in the net at one point but failed to hold his run and was deemed offside.
The second half saw the same pattern for the Portuguese striker. A brilliant bit of wing play from Fernandes enabled him to find Ronaldo open in a congested penalty area, only for the 37-year-old to fire his shot back towards the crowd rather than in the open space.
Ralf Rangnick blasted his sides finishing, saying he believed they had created enough to win the game.
Ralf Rangnick: "Our job as coaches is to help the team to create enough chances. The number of clear chances we had today had to be enough to win a game like this."
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) February 26, 2022
United had a week earlier in the month when they drew three games in a row while playing incredibly well in each. And it was a strikingly similar game to those.
They could ill-afford to drop points today either with games against Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool up next.
Arsenal will have loved this result considering they are now three games in hand with just two points between them. Sticking The Gunners firmly in the driving seat for the final top four spot.
This season is not for man u as a coach u don’t have a striker and u are loanee athony matial now Ronaldo can’t score and RAsford is not good now man u can’t finish on top four may GOD HELP MAN U