Manchester United vs Chelsea EPL match report: Chelsea came from behind to rescue a point against Manchester United Sunday night, denying the Red Devils a victory in their first premier league match post Erik Ten Hag era.
After a positive league cup result against Leicester City in the preceding midweek, interim manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy was looking to strengthen the confidence of his morally dilapidated squad against the Londoners.
The Dutchman made a couple of changes in the squad that he deployed against Leicester with Noussair Mazraoui back in the left full back while Rasmus Hojlund was preferred to Joshua Zirkzee in the centre forward role. Casemiro and Ugarte kept their places in the central midfield while the trio of Garnacho, Rashford and Fernandes were in the attacking positions.
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca made a complete overhaul in the squad that lost to Newcastle in last Thursday’s league cup fixture. Jackson, Neto, Madueke, Caicedo and fan favorite Cole Palmer were all recalled in the first eleven.
After the start of the proceedings, very few chances were created by either side in the first half although Chelsea missed a golden opportunity in the 14th minute when Noni Madueke should have scored with a close-range header that struck the near post from a Cole Palmer corner kick and the rebound was blasted by Levi Colwill into the side-netting. In the closing moments of the first half, Marcus Rashford had a good opportunity for the hosts when he latched on to a cross from the wing, but his strike wasn’t accurate at all and the ball went well over the bar.
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In the 55th minute, Chelsea again came close of scoring when Pedro Neto started a solo run, without looking to pass to a teammate, and easily weaved through the defence to get deep inside the box, but the Portuguese’s low shot missed the goal by a whisker.
No fixture has produced more draws in Premier League history, and with more than an hour gone, another stalemate was looking increasingly likely. However, the complexion changed in the 68th minute when Manchester United were awarded a penalty by referee Robert Jones when Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez fouled Hojlund inside the box after defender Fofana misjudged Casemiro’s flighted diagonal ball in the build up. Bruno Fernandes made no mistake from the spot as he fired an unstoppable penalty past Sanchez into the bottom left corner.
However, the home side’s joy lasted for only four minutes when in the 74th minute Moises Caicedo got to the ball on the edge of the box and fired in a first-time shot without any hesitation after Palmer’s corner was initially cleared by Casemiro. A couple of minutes later, Chelsea substitute Enzo Fernandez found himself in a promising position inside the box after collecting a pass but the chance was wasted as his shot went harmlessly over the crossbar.
In the 89th minute, Alejandro Garnacho smacked a great volley at goal from inside the box, but the effort was just inches over the bar and the score line remained unchanged till the final whistle.
In the dying moments, United were lucky not to be reduced to 10 men as Lisandro Martinez’s yellow card for a clumsy challenge was reviewed by VAR and the original decision was retained.
In the other result of yesterday, Tottenham came from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1 at home with all their four goals coming in the second half.
