Manchester United caused a tense 2-1 home victory against Chelsea at Old Trafford with goals from Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro, securing the win after having had a difficult start to the campaign. The first half saw both teams reduced to 10 men, in what was chaos all around. Ruben Amorim, had a sigh of relief, having won his ninth match in thirty two played.
The chaos began just five minutes into the game when Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was shown a straight red card for a reckless lunge on Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo. Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca was forced into an early reshuffle, making three substitutions within the first 21 minutes, the earliest a side has ever done so in a Premier League match. This defensive move backfired as Bruno Fernandes scored his 100th goal for United in all competitions, followed by Casemiro heading in his first goal of the season to put United 2-0 up.
Casemiro was shown a second yellow card on the stroke of halftime, leveling the numbers on the field. This made him the first player since Emmanuel Adebayor in 2012 to both score and be sent off in the first half of a Premier League match. The first half also saw the first to feature two or more goals, two red cards, and three substitutions. Chelsea’s struggles were compounded by the early withdrawal of Cole Palmer due to a recurring groin injury.
In the second half, a late header from Trevoh Chalobah in the 80th minute offered a glimmer of hope for Chelsea, but it was not enough. Despite United looking ragged and their opponent pushing for an equalizer, they managed to hold on for their second win in six matches across all competitions. This victory moves Amorim’s side up to ninth place in the table. Chelsea boss Maresca admitted that Sanchez's red card meant his "gameplan went in the bin."
The defeat marks Chelsea’s first league loss of the season, concluding a challenging week of away fixtures for the club. Maresca expressed concern over the recurring groin issue for Cole Palmer, stating, "He did this morning a test, he wanted to play this game for the team... so the effort has been huge from him, but then after 20 minutes he started to feel something, so we decided to change him." The loss, combined with Sanchez's upcoming suspension, presents further problems for the Blues as they look to recover.
