After David de Gea had frustrated Chelsea with numerous brilliant saves, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 17th goal of the season to give Manchester United a point.
The visitors dominated the first half at Old Trafford, but were unable to break through De Gea, who saved goals from Kai Havertz and N'Golo Kante. Midway through the second half, Chelsea finally broke the deadlock when Marcos Alonso volleyed home from an angle.
Manchester United reacted within a minute, with Nemanja Matic delivering a wonderful cross into the area for Cristiano Ronaldo to take a touch before thumping a shot into the net.
That jolted Old Trafford to life, as there had been a tepid atmosphere inside the stadium up to that point, while unhappiness with the club's owners was still visible outside for the second home game in a row, with protests.
Reece James hit the outside of the post, while Ronaldo might have given the hosts all three points but Edouard Mendy saved his effort from a tricky angle.
However, the game finished in a draw, as Chelsea moved closer to a top-four finish. With five games remaining, Thomas Tuchel's side is in third place, eight points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham. Manchester United sit in sixth place, five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal despite having played two more games.
Following last Saturday's 3-1 setback at Arsenal, interim manager Ralf Rangnick pushed his team to complete the season as strongly as possible, but suggesting a top-four finish was "unrealistic."
However, for the first hour of this game, it appeared as though that call had gone unheeded, as the home team turned forth yet another poor performance.
They were sluggish and lacked the drive that Chelsea's players displayed, and the visitors should have been out of sight in the first half as they battered De Gea's net with attempts.
Havertz, who burst through midway through the first half only to be denied by De Gea, then sent a close-range header straight at the goalie, was the best of those.
When Chelsea scored, it appeared that an away win was a foregone conclusion - but, for the second time this season, Ronaldo came to his team's rescue.
Since his return to Old Trafford, his usefulness to the team has been questioned, but at the age of 37, he continues to defy the odds, as he climbed joint-second on the Premier League top scorers list with 17 goals.
Chelsea had won their previous eight games on the road in all competitions, and they'll be wondering how they didn't make it nine after this stalemate.
Taking chances has been a problem for the Blues all season, and despite De Gea's outstanding performance, they will be disappointed that they were only able to score once.
In the end, it was a squandered opportunity for the visitors, but it shouldn't detract from their prospects of finishing in the top four, as they only need seven points from their remaining five games to do so.
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