Neither Manchester City nor Wigan Athletic took the chance to make significant progress up the table as they drew 0-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium.

A win would have sent City up to seventh in the table and kept their European hopes alive, while struggling Wigan could have moved up as high as 12th, but instead the two sides both left with a single point after playing out a drab goalless draw.

There was an open start to the match, as both teams knew they had to play positively in order to gain the points they both desperately need for vastly differing reasons.

City had the first real opportunity after six minutes as full-back Michael Ball curled in a cross to the far post for Darius Vassell to head on target, only for goalkeeper Chris Kirkland to parry and then pounce on the loose ball.

Soon after Luis Antonio Valencia dribbled to the byline and beat Nedum Onuoha before pulling the ball back to meet Wilson Palacios's late run. However, the Honduras midfielder tried to take a touch at pace, and the ball rolled through to Joe Hart.

Stephen Ireland then had a decent effort sail over the bar, after a short corner from Brazilian playmaker Elano.

Benjani had the best chance of the half, but after finding himself onside and one-on-one with Kirkland, his touch let him down and the goalkeeper bravely slid in to smother the ball.

Aside from drawing a booking from Michael Brown, Elano had a rather subdued first half, typical of his form during the second half of the season.

However, he looked a different player after the break as, right from the restart, he first released Benjani and then Vassell with perfectly-weighted passes. However, after the second he received a knock to his thigh and went down, immediately asking to be substituted. He was subsequently replaced by Ecuadorean Felipe Caicedo.

Depsite losing their most creative player, City began to take control of the match. Caicedo made his presence known with a fine through pass slipped into the path of Benjani, who managed to dig out a powerful shot but aimed it straight at Hart.

The Zimbabwean striker had what was arguably the chance of the match, as Vassel latched onto a fine through ball from Gelson Fernandes and squared a low ball across to him, only for the former Portsmouth forward to turn the ball wide of the near post.

Former City player Antoine Sibierski came on for the underwhelming Marlon King with 25 minutes to go, and saw one effort roll wide and another blocked by Richard Dunne, but could not stop the match finishing in a shutout.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport