Chelsea 2-0 Manchester United - Ten Men, One Penalty and a Bridge Full of Noise

Three points, a clean sheet and a place in the top four. A 12:30pm kick-off at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 31 October gave us all three, and it was the way we won that made it so satisfying.

Chelsea 2-0 Manchester United. Morgan Rogers did the clever bit and Cole Palmer finished the job from the spot after Lisandro Martínez was sent off.

A first half to be patient through

United came to press us, and for a spell it was about staying calm. That is where Roméo Lavia earned his place in this report. He helped us play through their pressure with intelligent passing, and he was always available when the ball needed a safe and sensible home.

Mike Penders had a steady afternoon behind a back four that included Marco Palestra, who was making his first Chelsea start. I liked what I saw from him. He did not look overawed.

Rogers breaks through

Early in the second half, in the 50th minute, the game opened up. Lavia won the ball and then played the pass that set Rogers away. Rogers ran at the defence and lifted the ball over Senne Lammens. It was a superb chip, taken with real composure.

That makes 10 goal involvements in all competitions this season for Rogers, six goals and four assists. He keeps delivering, and I am delighted he is wearing blue.

Martínez sees red

The game turned within a few minutes. Martínez was booked for a foul on Rogers, and then he made a mess of things. In the 63rd minute he raised an arm to the face of Wesley Fofana in the United box. A VAR check followed, and he was shown a second yellow card.

Let’s face it. You cannot do that. Fofana had already seen a header hit the post, and now he had won us a penalty.

Michael Carrick called the dismissal and the penalty a “big moment”, and he said United “found a way of unravelling in the second half.” He is right about that, and we were happy to watch it happen.

Palmer makes it safe

Palmer stepped up in the 64th minute and scored. It was his 50th Premier League goal for Chelsea. By his standards it was not the most convincing penalty I have seen, but it went in, and that is the only thing that matters. Once we were two up against ten men, the result never looked in doubt.

Xabi Alonso summed it up: “It was a mature performance.” I agree. We stayed patient, took our chance and shut the door.

The numbers that matter

Chelsea moved above Liverpool into fourth place.
We have kept two clean sheets in our last three Premier League games.
United are winless in nine games in all competitions (D3 L6), their longest such run since September 1984.
United have not kept a clean sheet in their first nine Premier League games this season, and they sit one point above the relegation zone.

Player ratings

Mike Penders – 7. Dealt with everything and kept the clean sheet.
Josh Acheampong – 6. Solid and sensible.
Wesley Fofana – 5. Harsh, if you ask me, given his header hit the post and he won the penalty.
Levi Colwill – 6. Dependable alongside Fofana.
Marco Palestra – 7. A first Chelsea start and a very good one.
Moises Caicedo – 6. Did his work in the middle.
Roméo Lavia – 7. Intelligent passing through the pressure, and he won the ball for the opener before setting up Rogers.
Pedro Neto – 6. Busy, without a decisive moment.
Cole Palmer – 6. Quiet by his standards, but he scored the penalty when it counted.
Estevão Willian – 8. A threat every time he got the ball.
Morgan Rogers – 8. The superb chip and a constant danger to United.
Pep Chavarria – 6. Replaced Palestra in the 71st minute and did a solid job.

Malo Gusto, Valentin Barco and Danny Welbeck came on in the 86th minute for Neto, Estevão and Caicedo, and Geovany Quenda replaced Palmer in the 90th.

What’s next

We take this performance into the next game with confidence. Want more of the story against this opponent? Look back at our 1-1 draw with Manchester United and the 2-1 win over United. You can find all our other reports on the Match Reports page.