Red cards were brandished to Roberto Sanchez and Casemiro in the first half of this encounter between Manchester United and Chelsea but it was still United’s day but it could have very much ended evenly for both teams.
Four minutes into the game, Sesko won a battle in the air against Chalobah flicking the ball towards Mbeumo who was already through on goal before Sanchez brought him down just outside his box. Easy decision for Peter Bankes who gave Sanchez his marching orders.
Enzo Maresca may have blown things out of proportion as he made two changes immediately. One expected change was bringing in goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen for Estêvão. But withdrawing Neto and replacing him with Adarabioyo seemed like a decision that should have been delayed.
As expected, Manchester United took advantage of the 10-man situation and Bruno Fernandes slipped through the Chelsea defense to meet a Dorgu cross for his 100th Manchester United goal. He looked offside but after a VAR check, he was onside.
In the 17th minute, just three minutes after the goal, Casemiro made a needless tackle on Enzo Fernandes which saw him get yellow. Such carelessness wasn’t expected from a player of his quality but it was clearly not the end of his recklessness.
Santos came in to replace Palmer as there were concerns of a groin injury he seemed to be nursing. It was United still with the initiative as Casemiro met a flick from Maguire to place the ball into the right corner of Jörgensen’s goal.
With 9 minutes of additional time to the end of the first half and United 2-0 up, everything felt under control. But Casemiro’s recklessness was not over here as he cuddled Santos and brought him down to get his second yellow card of the evening. Now, it seemed equal and truly it was because the pressure United mounted on Chelsea was switched over.
Chelsea kept pouncing on United and they were rewarded for their efforts in the 80th minute when Chalobah headed a corner kick corss from Recce James pastor Bayindir who was standing stuck in-between his sticks.
That effort however was not good enough. As the game ended 2-1 for Ruben Amorim’s second win of his first full Premier League season.
