Manchester United travelled to Stamford Bridge searching for their first Premier League victory since August.
First half
Both sides took turns keeping possession early on as they tried to take the sting out of the occasion, with both teams under pressure.
Romeo Lavia had the first effort on goal when he tried to catch Senne Lammens off his line from a free kick in his own half, but the Belgian was equal to it. Estevao tried his luck after eight minutes but his long-distance effort skewed wide.
United responded and, after some good work down the right, the ball dropped to Santos on the edge of the area and his shot curled just wide of the goal against his former side. After 15 minutes, Estevao had the ball in the net when he tapped in a rebound from a Lammens save, but fortunately he was offside and the flag was raised to save Michael Carrick’s side.
United broke with ferocity and Mbeumo’s beautiful ball across found Fernandes in oceans of space, but he blazed over on his left foot.
Matheus Cunha almost broke through the Chelsea defence, but a poor touch allowed the ball to escape his control. Shortly after, Fernandes fired a dangerous ball across goal that just missed Mbeumo as the visitors turned up the heat.
Amad had a shot from just outside the box on the half-hour mark, but Mbeumo was quickly on the rebound. Unfortunately, he could not square the ball to Cunha to tap in.
The Ivorian caused problems again for the hosts as he won the ball back high up the pitch, ran at the defence, but his right-footed shot was saved by the Chelsea keeper. The Red Devils thought they had taken the lead in the 35th minute when Maguire’s header was headed in by Cunha, but he was in an offside position.
United ramped up the pressure and Amad found space in the area, spun and shot with his effort destined for the corner, but it was well blocked by Wesley Fofana. On 41 minutes, against the run of play, Chelsea almost took the lead when a header was deflected onto the post by Caicedo, with Lammens stranded.
Amad continued to pressure Chelsea and he stole the ball from Fofana and was in one-on-one, but he skied his effort over the top corner.
In a free-flowing match, Maguire inexplicably lost the ball and let in Pedro Neto, but he fired wide of the post and the scores remained level.
Second half
Chelsea started the half with more possession, and Morgan Rogers waltzed through the United defence to give his side an undeserved lead.
The home side continued with their tails up and had a header through Neto, but Lammens managed to hold onto it. A nightmarish second half continued for United when Lisandro Martinez was penalised for an off-the-ball foul in the penalty area.
To make things even worse, Martinez was shown a second yellow card and the Red Devils were down to ten men again. Palmer converted the penalty even though Lammens got a strong hand to the effort.
Estevao thought he had scored a third for the hosts when he was played in and he smashed the ball past Lammens, but he was finally ruled offside. United tried to create some chances with pressure up top, but an even worse afternoon got darker when the lively Amad had to be substituted off.
The away fans kept in admirably good spirits as the game petered out, but substitute Joshua Zirkzee’s long-range effort was easily caught by Mike Penders. On 85 minutes, Lammens pulled off a stunning stop to deny the busy Estevao’s curler.
The referee signalled there would be ten minutes of added time as there was to be more pain for United’s patient fans. Mbeumo struck the ball beautifully on the bounce, but Penders made a stunning stop to tip the Cameroonian’s shot onto the crossbar.
The home side broke away immediately and Cole Palmer swept the ball over the crossbar. Chelsea kept the ball while the United fans continued to voice their support for Michael Carrick.
Valentin Barco arrived late in the area and should have scored his side’s third, but he blazed over from close range. The match came to an end and Michael Carrick’s tenure as head coach seemed even closer to ending.
Starting XI: Lammens, Dalot, Martinez, Maguire, Yoro, Amad, Andrey Santos, Baleba, Mbeumo, Cunha, Fernandes
Subs: Mainoo, Heaven, Mount, Zirkzee
Featured image by Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
