Key events
45 min +1: Fernandes slaps a dismal free kick into the Chelsea box that fails to beat the first man. There will be nine additional first-half minutes.
45 min: Cucurella launches himself into a daft challenge on Mazraoui, who was going nowhere down the right. It’s a booking all day long, and now a free kick in a dangerous position.
43 min: Sesko one-twos with Fernandes down the inside-right channel, but takes a heavy touch and the opportunity to shoot is gone.
42 min: James makes a nuisance of himself down the right but Shaw outmuscles him to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. Meanwhile Cole Palmer’s back on the Chelsea bench, with an ice pack on his groin that may explain his withdrawal.
40 min: A third goal is more likely than a United red card, though. Diallo advances down the left and looks for Mbeumo in the middle. Jorgensen does just enough to flap clear.
39 min: During the celebrations, Shaw brushes past Fernandez, who isn’t happy about it at all. Tempers flare. The referee eventually calms everything down. The only thing that can possibly save Chelsea now is if a United player gets stupidly sent off.
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea (Casemiro 37)
Sesko busies his way down the right and earns a corner off Fofana. Mbeumo plays it back down the line for Mazraoui, who swings into the mixer. Dorgu wins a header. James slices horribly into the air. Shaw heads the dropping ball across the face of goal, left to right, and Casemiro nods down and home. United double their lead!
35 min: Pedro dribbles into the United box down the inside-left channel. He goes over Mazraoui’s leg, and claims a penalty. While VAR takes a look, United counter, Diallo crossing from the left for Mazraoui, who slices horribly wide. But he was offside anyway. At least he didn’t concede a penalty, though, which is the conclusion the VAR eventually comes to.
33 min: Mbeumo slips Diallo into the box down the right. Diallotries to dribble his away round Tosin along the byline, but walks the ball out of play. He still stands it up for Fernandes, who nods home at the far stick, but the goal obviously won’t stand.
31 min: United continue to press forward with their extra man; Chelsea are only just holding on. Mbeumo and De Ligt with dangerous crosses from the right. “SBJR is probably worrying about having to pay a win bonus,” suggests Richard Hirst.
29 min: … and here he is, deliberately getting in the way of Mbeumo down the right. He’s fortunate not to go into the book. The resulting free kick is eventually plucked from the sky by Jorgensen, who tries to set Chelsea off on the counter. Shaw cynically wraps an arm around Fernandez, and now it’s a United player who gets away with a sly foul. No booking.
27 min: Cucurella is fine to continue.
25 min: Mazraoui barges clumsily into the back of Cucurella, who takes the opportunity to stay down and allow Chelsea some brief respite. While he gets some treatment, the camera pans to Sir Big Jim Ratcliffe, who despite United’s brisk start this evening, is sitting in the stand with a face on.
23 min: Cucurella’s sheer presence wins Chelsea a corner down the left, but when the set piece is played back to Caicedo, the resulting shot is scuffed and blocked. Safe to say this isn’t going to plan for Chelsea, who had been hoping to go second tonight.
21 min: Also not happy: former Manchester City player and boyhood Manchester United fan Cole Palmer, who having taken just one touch so far, is replaced by Santos, as Chelsea look to shore things up and perhaps even turn the tide. Palmer shakes his head in irritation, before trudging off down the tunnel in (a) a big coat, and (b) high dudgeon.
20 min: Pedro goes up for a high ball but catches De Ligt upside the head with an elbow. Fernandes isn’t particularly happy about it, but the referee keeps his yellow in his pocket.
19 min: Mbeumo finds a bit of space down the right and aims a curler towards the top-left corner. Just too high, a smidgen too wide. But that was close. Chelsea are in all sorts of trouble here.
18 min: Casemiro goes into the book for an earlier challenge on Fernandez. But that doesn’t stop the Old Trafford party. The place is bouncing.
17 min: Yep, the goal stands. Chalobah was attempting to step out and catch Fernandes offside, but forgot to trim his toenails last night, and it’s 1-0 to the hosts.
16 min: The VAR has got his special rulers out. This one is tight. It initially looked to the naked eye like Fernandes was off, but zoom in and Chalobah’s toe might be a factor here.
15 min: Hold on, VAR is having a good long look at a possible offside.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Chelsea (Fernandes 14)
Mbeumo crosses from the right. Dorgu rises at the far stick, and heads back across goal. Fernandes springs clear of the thin blue line and cocks a leg to prod past Jorgensen and in! It’s fair to say that had been coming.
13 min: On the touchline, Enzo Maresca shakes his head in irritation. He might have a feeling what’s coming …
12 min: De Ligt fizzes a low ball in from the right but neither Sesko nor Diallo is able to meet it in the box.
10 min: Nothing comes of that corner, but you can be sure United scent blood in the water. Chelsea can’t get out.
9 min: Mbeumo swings the corner in. Casemiro gets a weak header on target, but Cucurella half-clears. Mbeumo crosses again from the right, and De Ligt’s presence forces Jorgensen to punch behind for another corner.
8 min: After all the fussing, the free kick. Fernandes blasts it straight into the wall, then Mbeumo hoicks a shot over the bar. But the shot took a small nick, and it’ll be a corner, which Mbeumo will take himself.
7 min: Jorgensen comes on to replace Estevao. Neto is also sacrificed by Enzo Maresca, with Tosin coming on to bolster a defence that’ll now be under severe pressure all evening.
6 min: Fofana and Caicedo were just behind Mbeumo, but the striker was in the process of rounding the keeper when he was felled, so there’s no changing that decision.
RED CARD! Sanchez (Chelsea)
4 min: United have flown out of the traps, and they get a big reward now. Bayindir launches long. Sesko rises above Chalobah and flicks on to release Mbeumo down the middle. Mbeumo is free! Just as he reaches the edge of the D, Sanchez races out of the box and cleans the striker out. The referee doesn’t need to think. Out comes the red card. The easiest decision he’ll have for a while.
3 min: United have started well, though, and when Dorgu crosses from the left, Mbeumo has a header parried by Sanchez at the far post. United come again, and James is forced into a last-ditch challenge to block Dorgu before he can shoot.
2 min: It is absolutely lashing down, and there’s no let-up forecast.
1 min: United are on the front foot early doors, Mazraoui and De Ligt driving down the right as the rain drives down everywhere. Cucurella not for budging.
Manchester United get the ball rolling. Chelsea will kick towards the Stretford End during this first half.
The teams are out! Manchester United in their storied red, white and black, Chelsea in their famous royal blue. It’s coming down stair-rods in Manchester; in other breaking news, the aforementioned Pope is Catholic. We’ll be off in a minute!
Let’s have a rummage around the pre-match postbag … and by the looks of the contents, Ruben Amorim has lost the crowd.
“Any sign of a Papal Bull at Old Trafford? After all, there’s been plenty of another kind of bull there over the last 12 months” – Gary Naylor
“Fortunately this is only football. Imagine Amorim as a general. ‘Sir, our troops are being slaughtered.’ ‘Look son. Not even the Pope could make me change my system. Carry on!’” – Mary Waltz
“Shaw was atrocious at left centre-back position last week, as Bruno’s been in midfield each and every game; so it’s kinda weird Yoro’s out and Shaw’s still in and United’s been set up in last week’s exact formation of midfield and attack. What was the definition of insanity?” – Karen Asad
“Win or lose today, Amorim must go. There’s no place for this inflexibility in the Premier League” – Jeff Sax
Speaking of Garnacho, our man Jamie Jackson is at the ground, and the following dispatch will not come as a huge shock. “Garnacho entered late to the warm-up and to sizeable boos. He is continuing to be jeered.”
Enzo Maresca talks to Sky. “Overall the change we made today is to rotate a little bit … it is very difficult to go with the same players every time … Wes [Fofana] is ready … [Estevao brings] energy and quality … we need him … we need all the rest of the attacking players … [erstwhile United winger Alejandro Garnacho] already showed against Bayern and Brentford that he can help us … hopefully we can give him some minutes … every game is difficult … Man United away is a very complicated game.”
Ruben Amorim speaks to Sky Sports. “The first thing is to try to show the image of the last game and work on that … put more men in the box … we have to defend our box … use our full speed to recover position … be really focused … aggression and focus is something we have to improve … the crucial moments we have to do better … Harry Maguire’s ability to defend the box … in this moment we need the experience … we always try to put our best 11 against the opponents and Maguire is in that 11 today … we cannot risk players [like the returning duo of Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount] … we have other players … our focus is the thing we need to change … it is not to change the players all the time … it is to believe what we are doing … we cannot lose Matheus and Mason for many games.”
The 3pm results are in, and they don’t bring good news for Manchester United. Burnley and Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw means both clubs leapfrog them in the Premier League table, leaving them one spot off the relegation places. Now, that might not mean very much so early in the season, but the optics aren’t great. Having said all that, three points will catapult them into the top half and things will look so much rosier come 7.30pm. Chelsea meanwhile are bumped down to sixth after Crystal Palace’s 2-1 win at West Ham, but they can go second this evening with victory.
Chelsea’s manager has also been telling it as he sees it. None of it good news for Raheem Sterling or Axel Disasi. No splicing of the mainbrace for them.
… so Amorim sticks with Bayindir, and he’s also sticking with that formation. No great surprise there, to be fair, with United’s manager never missing an opportunity to assert his MO.
Manchester United make two changes to the team that started the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City. Harry Maguire and Casemiro come in for Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte, both of whom are benched. Altay Bayindir again gets the nod ahead of new keeper Senne Lammens.
Chelsea also make two changes in the wake of defeat, theirs that 3-1 loss at Bayern Munich. Wesley Fofana and Estêvão replace Tosin Adarabioyo and Malo Gusto, who drop to the bench.
The teams
Manchester United: Bayindir, Mazraoui, de Ligt, Maguire, Dorgu, Casemiro, Fernandes, Shaw, Mbeumo, Diallo, Sesko.
Subs: Lammens, Mount, Cunha, Zirkzee, Yoro, Ugarte, Heaven, Fredricson, Mainoo.
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Chalobah, Fofana, Cucurella, Fernandez, Caicedo, Estevao, Palmer, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro.
Subs: Adarabioyo, Bynoe-Gittens, Jorgensen, Santos, Hato, Gusto, George, Guiu, Garnacho.
Referee: Peter Bankes (Merseyside).
VAR: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
Preamble
This isn’t exactly a world exclusive, but here it is anyway: Manchester United aren’t in the best nick at the moment. While it’s true they can boast the second-best xG in the Premier League so far this season (8.3), they’ve got the fourth-worst xG against (6.9) and in any case statistics can only keep you so warm at night when the realpolitik is four matches, four points, and a shellacking in the Manchester derby. A grim enough state of affairs without the need to bring Grimsby Town into it.
But! If there’s a fixture that could rekindle some hope around Old Trafford, and belatedly kick-start United’s season, it’s Chelsea at home. United are unbeaten in 12 in this fixture, since Juan Mata, then a Blue, scored a late winner in May 2013; pull back the viewfinder a little further, and Chelsea have only won this fixture twice in the last 20 years.
Factor in Chelsea’s painful energy-sapping lesson in Munich earlier this week, suffered while United had their feet up studying Ruben’s Big Book of Plays, and this game has perhaps arrived at exactly the right time for the under-pressure Amorim and his men. Having said all that, Chelsea are unbeaten in three against United, winning two, while their domestic performances, admittedly imperfect, have been a damn sight better than those of today’s hosts. All of which is a long-winded way of suggesting that tonight’s match could go either way, and as a result should be great fun. Kick-off is at 5.30pm UK time. It’s on!
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