For two sides jostling for little more than position in the final three rounds, this clash ought to have had an end-of-season feel to it, but that message hadn’t relayed itself to Sunderland in the opening stages.
They created a gilt-edged chance inside the opening 10 minutes when a sweeping one-touch passing move ended with Enzo Le Fée threading Noah Sadiki through on goal, but a fine reflex save from Senne Lammens to get low down to his right denied the DR Congo international a first PL goal.
The Black Cats felt aggrieved midway through the first half when they felt they should’ve had a penalty after Le Fée’s effort deflected off the outstretched arm of Amad Diallo, but neither referee Stuart Attwell nor VAR saw it befitting of a spot-kick.
Sunderland did most of the legwork in the final third in the first half, coming close through Brian Brobbey and Sadiki once more before the break, with Joshua Zirkzee wasting United's only real chance of note when he headed over Matheus Cunha’s cross, leaving Michael Carrick with plenty to ponder at HT.
Cunha’s effort, which was blazed wildly over within minutes of the restart, almost perfectly summed up United’s struggles, and their misery was almost compounded shortly after the hour mark.
Le Fée was again involved, picking out Brobbey inside the area, but his low left-footed drive was impressively stopped by Lammens.
The United stopper was stranded just moments later when Brobbey teed up Lutsharel Geertruida, who crashed an effort against the post as pressure began to build on the United goal.
Carrick turned to his bench to introduce his trump card in Bryan Mbeumo in the closing stages in an attempt to help United to a fourth successive win, but the Cameroonian made precious little impact for the visitors, who registered just a single shot on target - and even then it came in second-half stoppage time through Cunha.
A point is far from a disaster for United, who remain in the driving seat to finish third with just two rounds remaining, while a draw here has all but ended Sunderland’s fanciful chances of finishing in the European places.