Lukaku leaves the field early, Man Utd draw their third consecutive match.

Mourinho's team were held to a 0-0 draw by Southampton at Old Trafford.

Lukaku was hit in the back of the head. Photo: Reuters.

The Belgian striker had to leave the field on a stretcher and was given oxygen. Photo: Reuters.

Lukaku had to leave the field less than 15 minutes into the match due to a head collision with Wesley Hoedt. Earlier, the Belgian striker nearly opened the scoring with a close-range header, but the ball went over the crossbar.

Man Utd managed to put the ball into the Southampton net in the second half, but Paul Pogba was ruled offside. Furthermore, a situation that displeased manager Mourinho was the referee's refusal to award a penalty when the ball appeared to have touched the hand of Southampton's central defender Maya Yoshida.

This result means Man Utd will start 2018 in third place. The team lost their familiar second place to Chelsea in the last round of matches. Chelsea now have 45 points, one point more than Man Utd.

This was Manchester United's third consecutive draw in the Premier League. Having only secured three out of a possible nine points, Man Utd not only lost their second place but also risked falling 17 points behind Manchester City. In this round, City played away at Crystal Palace, a match that shouldn't have been a difficult challenge for Pep Guardiola's side.

The situation that led to Pogba's disallowed goal. Photo: Reuters.

Manchester United have been heavily criticized recently for their attacking and goal-scoring abilities, with Lukaku being the main culprit due to his poor form. In the match against Southampton, Man Utd showed that their attack didn't improve even without Lukaku.

Manchester United's starting lineup, featuring expensive stars like Pogba, Martial, Mkhitaryan, and Mata, was unable to break through a defense that had just lost key player Virgil van Dijk. Their best chance came from the substitute Lukaku, while Rashford and Lingard's efforts were thwarted by the Southampton defenders.

Southampton even came close to making Man Utd pay the price if De Gea hadn't once again made an excellent save to deny Shane Long's shot. The visitors had a good game, considering their most recent result was a humiliating 2-5 defeat against Tottenham on Boxing Day.

This is Southampton's eighth consecutive match without a win. However, they remain 13th in the table, and with the $100 million they earned from selling Van Dijk, Southampton can strengthen their squad to perform better in the second half of the season.

According to VNE