Key events
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, who scored his 100th goal for the club tonight, speaks to Sky Sports. “Every three points is massive because we haven’t started the season as we wanted … we go game by game … the next one will be massive too.”
United’s celebrations are doubtless fuelled more by relief than joy, having threatened to toss away a two-goal and one-man advantage in farcical fashion. But it turns out they’d done just enough in the first 50 minutes of the game, before Casemiro preposterously got himself sent off, to earn the three points. And those three points are huge, whisking them from basement-adjacent 17th spot to the top half. Just one point shy of Chelsea’s haul, too. Everything suddenly looks a little rosier for Ruben Amorim … but it’s been a painful week for Chelsea, who follow up comprehensive defeat in Europe with this ramshackle loss, their unbeaten record kaput. A trip to Brentford next weekend for United; it’s Lincoln in the League Cup midweek for Chelsea.
FULL TIME: Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea
The ten men of United beat the ten men of Chelsea. Relief for the hosts, who made very heavy work of a very promising situation in very heavy rain.
90 min +7: The free kick is sent wide left to Mainoo, who wins a corner, and that’s surely it now.
90 min +6: James has the chance to cross from the right … but falls over comically. The crowd guffaw and jeer as Cunha strolls off on the counter, drawing a foul from Tosin, who goes into the book. More importantly, the clock ticks on.
90 min +5: Gusto crosses from the left. De Ligt puts the ball behind for a corner, which is confidently swatted clear by Bayindir.
90 min +4: … so James crosses low from the right, leading to slapstick panic in the United box. Santos is first to a loose ball on the penalty spot, but gets too cute with his shot, and his weak sidefoot is blocked well by Ugarte. Just for a nanosecond, the jig looked up for United. But they survive.
90 min +3: Chelsea have enjoyed 78 percent of possession since their goal, but haven’t carved out a chance since. Not a single shot on target.
90 min +2: Chalobah tries to release George down the inside-left channel. The pass is good; the timing of the run is not. Offside.
90 min +1: George and Mainoo wrestle in the centre circle and it’s a welcome free kick for the hosts. They don’t rush to take it.
90 min: There will be seven additional minutes.
88 min: Chelsea pass and probe. They probe and pass. United hold their shape.
87 min: The game restarts, but not before United replace Fernandes with Mainoo, who receives a huge cheer as he comes on. A message for his manager, perhaps.
86 min: The referee’s electronic communication pack has given up the ghost. We pause as it gets fixed, or replaced, or whatever.
84 min: …Chelsea threaten to counter, Santos bombing down the middle. But with options either side, he pauses and allows Ugarte to make a crucial attack-spoiling challenge. This is properly in the balance.
83 min: The best form of defence for United may be attack, and so Fernandes dribbles down the inside-right channel before pearling a drive towards the bottom left. Jorgensen extends himself fully to tip around the post. And from the resulting corner …
82 min: James dinks another cross in from the right. Diallo heads clear with Pedro preparing to head home. The nerves around Old Trafford palpable now.
81 min: A shiny bronze penny for Ruben Amorim’s thoughts on Casemiro right now.
GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea (Chalobah 80)
… so having said that, and with exquisite comic timing, Chelsea win another corner down the right. Fernandez plays it down the line for James, who swings long. Chalobah rises highest, six yards out at the far post, and plants a header across Bayindir and into the bottom right. Game back on!
79 min: James advances down the left and wins a corner off Shaw. The set piece is no good. Chelsea haven’t put Bayindir to work at all.
78 min: A lot of high-speed, sodden scrappiness.
76 min: The rain has finally stopped.
75 min: The resulting free kick finds Shaw down the left. Shaw curls long for Diallo, who attempts a Mark Hughes bicycle kick. Full marks for ambition if nothing else.
74 min: Caicedo nicks Fernandes’s ankle. Then he has a short conversation with Mount. Santos and Yoro both come across to get involved as well, before everything cools down as quickly as it flared up.
72 min: George tries to close down Bayindir mid-clearance, and is kicked and booked for his trouble.
71 min: Fernandes, out on the left, heads a long ball down into the path of the in-flight Mount … but the United midfielder is stopped in his tracks by a perfectly timed sliding tackle from Chalobah … who is on a booking, so that timing was key.
69 min: United make a double change, replacing Mbeumo and Maguire with Yoro and Mount.
67 min: That slew of changes has done for whatever momentum Chelsea was building up. The game goes scrappy and bitty, which will suit United just fine.
65 min: United had considered replacing Mbeumo with Cunha … but aborted the substitution seconds before Mbeumo stepped off the pitch, and just before the aforementioned corner. Now Amorim changes his mind again, sending Cunha on, but taking off Mazraoui instead.
64 min: Garnacho won’t play on his return to Old Trafford today. That’s because Chelsea make their last two changes, Gusto and George on for Cucurella and Fofana.
63 min: De Ligt’s clearance went out for a corner. James curls it towards the near post. Tosin eyebrows on for Fofana, who can’t miss with his header from a couple of yards … but Fofana was clearly offside and the flag goes up correctly.
62 min: Fernandez slips James into the United box down the inside-right channel. James tries to find Caicedo with a cut-back, but De Ligt gets in ahead of the in-rushing midfielder to hook clear. Better from Chelsea.
60 min: Chelsea hog the ball, but do very little with it. One goal would seriously change the mood, but they don’t look like scoring it at the moment. Meanwhile Kári Tulinius observes that “matches in torrential downpours are always charming because it makes professional footballers, who otherwise can seem nearly superhuman, look like kids playing football on a muddy field in the park.”
58 min: Pedro is sent skittering into acres of space down the left. He’s got Fernandez free in the middle, but holds onto the ball for too long, allowing Mazraoui to block the route into the centre. Big chance for Chelsea wasted.
57 min: Dorgu and Fernandes take turns to curl crosses into the Chelsea box from the left. Chalobah clears the first; Fernandes overhits the second, giving Mbeumo no chance at the far stick. Goal kick. But that’s better from United.
56 min: Sky flash up a stat. Chelsea have enjoyed 80 percent of possession since the restart.
