Manchester United suffered another blow to their fading Premier League title hopes after a dour 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace on Wednesday left them 14 points behind Manchester City ahead of Sunday’s Derby.

Runaway leaders City have 65 points from 27 games and are in a commanding position after second-placed United lacked edge in foggy conditions at Selhurst Park, failing to break down a resolute Palace who had the game’s best chances.

It was a third successive 0-0 draw for United after a stalemate at Chelsea on Sunday and against Real Sociedad last Thursday which completed a 4-0 aggregate win over the Spanish side in the Europa League.

Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic, picked by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ahead of Scott McTominay, conceded United were too cagey. “We have to do much better, we have to risk more in attack to create chances,” the Serbian told Sky Sports.

“We are Manchester United, we have to win this kind of game. On Sunday we have a big game against Manchester City and we have to refocus for that.” Solskjaer conceded his side were much more likely to face a scrap for a top-four finish than challenge Manchester City for the title.

“It’s not good as you know if you want to move up the table, you need to win,” the Norwegian told the BBC.

“You have to earn the right, you have to win tackles, you have to fight you have to play passes better as we kept giving the ball away.

“We go into every game thinking we need to win and we want to win... We know we’re in a fight to be in the top four so every game is important.”

Solskjaer said he may not allow Bruno Fernandes to travel overseas for Portugal’s matches during the international break if the midfielder is required to quarantine on his return to England.