Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea: Chelsea shenanigans gifts Amorim’s reds a much-needed victory at Old Trafford

Bruno Fernandes nets a landmark goal on his 200th Premier League appearance to help Manchester United to a chaotic 2-1 win over Maresca’s Chelsea, despite both teams going down to 10 men in the first half.

Chelsea hoped to break the curse of their horrible record when coming to Old Trafford, having not left with 3 points there since May 2013, and with high hopes and expectations coming into this game for Chelsea fans, it couldn’t have started any worse.

Spaniard Robert Sanchez, who seems to have picked up some consistency in net for the Blues, was sent off inside 5 minutes after a reckless challenge on Bryan Mbuemo, which meant Maresca had some quick thinking to do. It seemed the Chelsea manager had a bit of a panic, removing both wingers in Pedro Neto and Brazilian youngster Estevao, as well as the main man Cole Palmer, but sources later confirmed that Palmer’s groin injury was still causing him some discomfort so a sensible move in the end in terms of protecting the brilliance of Palmer.

Soon after this flurry of changes, Fernandes made the most of Chelsea’s numerical disadvantage, as he flung an outstretched right leg toward goal and poked the ball past substitute keeper Filip Jorgensen, bringing up his 100th goal for the Red Devils.

Chelsea looked thoroughly shaken and United made sure to capitalise on the gaping holes in Chelsea’s structure, as Casemiro nodded in a second for United in the 37th minute, but a second yellow card for him after an overly aggressive piece of defending on Andrey Santos gave the thousands of travelling Chelsea fans something to cheer about. After 9 more minutes of additional time in the wind-swept rain, the half time interval came, which brought a sigh of relief for the Chelsea crew. HT: Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea.

However, Chelsea improved massively after the break. Just as the clock ticked over the hour mark, the Blues thought they had nabbed a goal back as Frenchman Wesley Fofana headed in from close range, only to be denied immediately by the offside flag. With more changes from both managers, Chelsea did manage to half the deficit thanks to a powerful header from Trevoh Chalobah in the 80th minute, but despite giving it their all for the last 10 minutes (plus the 7 minutes of additional time), they couldn’t find the equaliser they treasured. Chelsea were unbeaten in their 4 Premier League matches before this clash, but that run comes to an abrupt end.

Overall, a much-needed win for Ruben Amorim and Manchester United, who now climb up to ninth on seven points, just one less than Chelsea, who sit in sixth.

Many Chelsea fans on social media have been criticising Enzo Maresca’s decision making in terms of his substitutions, and you can see where they are coming from. Maresca had said in two different press conferences earlier this week that he was happy with Alejandro Garnacho’s performances off the bench so far, and how well he has adapted to the system at Chelsea - but then proceeded to bring on academy player Tyrique George, who was keen to leave the Chelsea camp in the summer and was only minutes away from a permanent move to Fulham, before the deal collapsed, forcing him to stay at Chelsea indefinitely. Any football fan will tell you that Garnacho would have loved to net one in front of the jeering United fans, but today wasn’t the day for the new Chelsea man.

In conclusion, the early red card for Chelsea’s number one Robert Sanchez (the earliest ever Chelsea red card in the Premier League at 4 minutes and 1 second) gifted Manchester United the tools to get three points, and despite a less comfortable second half, their two goals in the first half left Chelsea too much to do to clinch any points away from home, meaning their poor run at Old Trafford continues for another season.