Blackburn dent United’s title hopes

Manchester United’s hopes of retaining the Premier League title suffered a major blow as the champions were held to a 0-0 draw by Blackburn on Sunday.

Manchester United’s hopes of retaining the Premier League title suffered a major blow as the champions were held to a 0-0 draw by Blackburn on Sunday.

United would have moved a point ahead of Chelsea with a win at Ewood Park but, with forward Wayne Rooney sidelined through injury, they were unable to prise open Blackburn’s stubborn defence.

The result left second placed United a point behind leaders Chelsea and the gap will increase to four points if the Blues win their game in hand at home to Bolton on Tuesday.

After bowing out of the Champions League against Bayern Munich in midweek, this was another significant setback for United, whose best chances were wasted by Antonio Valencia and Dimitar Berbatov.

Elsewhere, Wolves edged closer to Premier League survival after grinding out a dour 0-0 draw against Stoke at Molineux. Wolves are now six points clear of the relegation zone with four matches left to play and look set to beat the drop in their first season up from the Championship.