Manchester United handed the initiative in the EPL title race firmly to Chelsea as they failed to break down a resilient Blackburn Rovers.

Chances were rare but United’s misses were to the backdrop of observers wondering if “Wayne Rooney would have scored from there.”

United clearly missed their talismanic top-scorer, and although Berbatov played by no means badly, the Bulgarian’s failure to shine in Rooney’s role grabbed the attention.

In the first half, however, the two best chances fell to Antonio Valencia.

His 25^th minute right-foot drive was well saved by Rovers keeper Paul Robinson.

And Robinson denied the Ecuadorian again shortly before half-time, after Valencia was sent clear by a superb Berbatov through ball.

Only Christopher Samba’s 8^th minute header brought United keeper Edwin Van der Sar into first-half action. And the pattern continued after the break.

Berbatov’s 62^nd minute shot was well-blocked by Rovers man-of-the-match Phil Jones.

He fired straight at Robinson from Gary Neville’s terrific back-post header with ten minute remaining. And he hooked a volley wide three minutes later.

Neville blocked Steven Nzonzi’s 88^th minute effort, Rovers’ only second-half shot and dribbled a shot wide in stoppage time to confirm United’s first goalless draw of the season.