Manchester City missed the chance to go fourth in the Premier League table as they played out a frustrating 0-0 draw with rivals Manchester United.

After Nottingham Forest lost 2-1 to Aston Villa and Chelsea drew 0-0 with Brentford, City arrived at Old Trafford knowing a victory would provide a major boost to their hopes of Champions League qualification.

But Pep Guardiola's team struggled to create chances against a well-drilled United backline, with their only attempt of note in the first half being a wayward drive from Phil Foden.

The best chance of the opening period fell to Alejandro Garnacho, but when picked out unmarked by Diogo Dalot, the Argentine failed to make proper contact with his header.

Foden squandered City's clearest opening early in the second half, shooting well wide under pressure from Noussair Mazraoui, while an Omar Marmoush free-kick drew a good save from Andre Onana.

But United would get the best chance to claim three points, when Garnacho scampered down the left to tee up substitute Joshua Zirkzee.

Zirkzee sent a left-footed shot looping towards the far corner, but Ederson was equal to the challenge, clawing it away to preserve City's clean sheet.

The draw leaves City fifth in the table, one point adrift of Chelsea and one ahead of Villa, though Newcastle United could leapfrog them with victory at Leicester City on Monday.

United, meanwhile, go back above Tottenham and into 13th, seven points adrift of the top half.

Data debrief: Drab draw at Old Trafford

This Manchester derby never truly threatened to get going, with both teams attempting just four shots each in the first half.

That total of eight first-half shots is the third-fewest on record (since 2003-04) in a Premier League Manchester derby (six in January 2023, four in October 2015).

This was just the third Manchester derby to finish 0-0 since the start of 2016-17 across all competitions, with two league games between the teams finishing goalless in April 2017 and December 2020.

Ruben Amorim will likely be the happier of the two coaches, but since his first game in charge of the Red Devils, only Leicester (12) have failed to score in more Premier League games than United's eight.

With Erling Haaland out, Kevin De Bruyne was City's most advanced player, two days after he announced he will leave at the end of the season.

But the Belgian did not create a single chance and his two shots, while both on target, amounted to just 0.05 expected goals (xG).