Points Halved at The Bridge…
By Alex Wilkes
The big six clash between Chelsea FC and Manchester United ended with the two sides sharing the points this afternoon, with a late Jorginho penalty which gave Chelsea the lead only for an even later Casemiro header who tied the fixture with his first goal for the Mancunian club.
The away team got off to a quick start, with United coming close very early on through a Luke Shaw shot from just outside the left-hand side of the box that just trickled past the right-hand post after being given some space with a ball down the wing from Christian Eriksen.
United continued to pile on the pressure with some neat one/two touch football between the midfield which eventually fell to recent acquisition Antony who looked to add to his three goals in four Premier League games, who attempted to curl a shot into the bottom left-hand corner which forced Spanish international Kepa to reach down low and push the attempt round the post.
Another chance arose when Casemiro intercepted the ball from Ruben Loftus-Cheek which then led to Bruno Fernandes splitting the defence open with a through ball towards Marcus Rashford who attempted to chip the ball over the oncoming Kepa who managed to make his second decisive save of the game with a strong right arm.
Right on the cusp of half time Lisandro Martinez intercepts an over-the-top ball that was heading towards Raheem Sterling with a diving header which then fell to Bruno Fernandes who again created another chance this time for Antony who took the ball in well but shot narrowly wide with Kepa looking beaten.
HALF TIME: CHELSEA FC 0-0 MANCHESTER UNITED
The second half started directly opposite to the first half as a whole. With Chelsea creating a threatening chance via a Mason Mount corner which was met by Trevoh Chalobah at the back post who towered over Fred his marker to guide his header towards the goal which hit the upper side of the crossbar and out for a Manchester United goal kick.
Throughout the second half Chelsea kept large parts of possession although failed to create anything significant, with both teams making changes with the home side bringing on Christian Pulisic, Mateo Kovacic, Armando Broja and Carney Chukwuemeka for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella and Ruben Loftus Cheek respectively. Whereas United brought on the aforementioned: Fred for Jadon Sancho, Victor Lindelof for an Injured Raphael Varane, Scott Mctominay for Christian Eriksen and Anthony Elanga for Marcus Rashford respectively.
Two of those substitutions proved to be significant as following a Chelsea corner the newly introduced Broja was taken down in the 86th minute by the also newly introduced Scott Mctominay who was appeared to of been grabbing the Albanian international which referee Stuart Atwell immediately saw was a penalty offence. Penalty taker Jorginho stepped up to the spot with his trademark hop, skip and a jump run up and guided the penalty low into the bottom right corner past goalkeeper David De Gea who dived in the opposite direction.
When the game seemed all but done Luke Shaw received the ball following a failed corner from outside the box and guided a well placed ball toward to back post which was met by an off balance Casemiro who managed to guide a header towards the far corner which was met by Kepa who seemed to of pulled off a game winning stop, only for the ball to come off the inside of the left hand post and after the use of goal line technology was declared a goal which gave Manchester United the equaliser they were chasing in the 94th minute of the game.
FULL TIME CHELSEA 1-1 MANCHESTER UNITED
Chelsea FC: Kepa, Silva, Chalobah, Cucurella (Kovacic 36’), Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek (Chukwumeka 79’), Chillwell, Azpilicueta, Aubameyang (Pulisic 74’), Sterling (Broja 79’), Mount.
Unused Subs: Zakaria, Ziyech, Gallagher, Havertz, Mendy
Yellow Cards: Jorginho (90+2)
Scorers: Jorginho (87’)
Manchester United: De Gea, Martinez, Varane (Lindelof 60’), Dalot, Shaw, Fernandes, Eriksen (Mctominay 80’), Casemiro, Antony, Sancho (Fred 52’), Rashford (Elanga 80’).
Unused Subs: Pellistri, Garnacho, Iqbal, Heaton, Malacia
Yellow Cards: Antony (32’), Fred (86’), Shaw (90’) Martinez (90+5)
Scorers: Casemiro (90+4’)
Attendance: 39,503