After the Lord Mayor's show the footballing gods decided it was time to rain on Manchester United 's parade.

United had got the feel-good factor back following a night of perfection in Paris and their thrilling win over PSG in the Champions League.

But it was all washed away in less than two hours of this damp squib at Old Trafford, as United's goalless stalemate with Chelsea left those unfortunate to have witnessed it feeling washed out again.

The weather was biblical at times and for long periods it felt like both teams needed some divine intervention when it came to finding a winning goal.

But the impressive Edouard Mendy denied Marcus Rashford with two wonderful saves, while the Blues were denied a clear first-half penalty when United captain Harry Maguire decided to get Cesar Azpilicueta in a headlock.

Marcus Rashford scored Manchester United's winner against PSG

The point was more useful to Frank Lampard's men than United, who have now failed to win their opening three home games in the league for the first time since 1972.

While the Blues remain in the title race, United remain closer to the bottom of the table than the top ahead of a crunch run of games that sees them host RB Leipzig in Europe, before crucial clashes with Arsenal and Everton.

The jury is still out on United, not least because Paul Pogba remains exiled from the starting XI, new £40m signing Donny van de Beek can't get a game either and Edinson Cavani is still finding his feet following a long spell without football.

But Brazilian international Fred remains convinced United will have a successful season.

Donny van de Beek was left on the bench as Man Utd drew with Chelsea
Donny van de Beek was left on the bench as Man Utd drew with Chelsea

You've got to admire his positive mindset, if nothing else and the midfielder said: "We know that our results since the start haven't been good, but I'm sure they will improve. The team's objective is to win things together.

"I'm convinced we have the quality here to do this, to go far in the Champions League and the cups here in England, do well in the Premier League. We hope to compete for trophies in all competitions."

Lampard was left pleased with a rare clean sheet, made possible by the brilliance of new signing Mendy in goal and class of Thiago Silva ahead of him.

Mendy, who also denied Bruno Fernandes, became the first goalkeeper since Petr Cech in 2004 to keep clean sheets in both of his first two league games for the club.

Chelsea's French goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was top class at Old Trafford

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But the visitors lacked a cutting edge in attack and remain a work in progress, as Lampard waits to see his huge summer spending spree pay dividends.

He said: "I thought it was a clear penalty. Holding is allowed, but headlocks aren't. They are hard calls for referees on the pitch, but the VAR was very quick to dismiss it in my opinion.

"I'm very happy with Timo (Werner). Two games ago he scored twice and Kai Havertz scored as well, so I'm least worried about the front end of the pitch and the players we have there. It takes time for relationships to develop. I've no worries about that.

Cesar Azpilicueta was denied a penalty when challenged by Harry Maguire

"Concentration is what defines top players at this level and I think you saw here Thiago Silva play and how he was focused on every moment of the game and every minute, to not just affect things for himself but also those around him."

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1):De Gea 6; WAN-BISSAKA 7, Lindelof 6, Maguire 6, Shaw 6; McTominay 6 (Greenwood 83), Fred 6; James 4 (Cavani 58, 6), Fernandes 6, Mata 5 (Pogba 58, 5); Rashford 6. Subs: Henderson, Matic, van de Beek, Tuanzebe.

UP NEXT: RB Leipzig (h), Champions League, Wednesday.

CHELSEA (3-4-3):MENDY 9; Azpilicueta 8, Silva 8, Zouma 6; James 8, Jorginho 6, Kante 7, Chilwell 7; Werner 6 (Abraham 71), Havertz 5 (Mount 71), Pulisic 7 (Ziyech 80). Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Kovacic, Giroud.

UP NEXT: FC Krasnodar (a), Champions League, Wednesday.

REFEREE: Martin Atkinson 6.

MAN OF THE MATCH – EDOUARD MENDY - Two crucial saves

WORST PERFORMER – DAN JAMES - out of his depth

MATCH RATING - 1