Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United
by Amar Azam
at Stamford Bridge

FOR ALL their endeavour, this was a contest that demonstrated how far Chelsea and Manchester United were behind their Premier League rivals.

The late drama may have added a layer of gloss, but in truth this was not pretty viewing from either side.  

Graham Potter’s Chelsea scored a goal following a penalty kick from Jorginho in the 87th minute after substitute Armando Broja had been bundled over by Scott Tominay.

The home supporters celebrated what they thought was a rare league win over Manchester United.

However, Manchester United’s midfielder Casemiro rescued a point when, four minutes into injury time, his fine headed effort looped over Kepa Arrizabalaga into the Chelsea goal. 

Both Potter and Erik ten Hag, the Manchester United boss, were praiseworthy of their players, especially given the pressure the fixture calendar was having on squads heading into the World Cup.

Potter takes his side to RB Salzburg on Tuesday as Chelsea look to progress in the Champions League. 

“It was an intense, hard-fought match against a team in a good moment,” said the Englishman, whose side remains unbeaten in the eight games he has been in charge. 

“Everyone has the schedule that they have, so it's not straightforward. The spirit, togetherness, effort, personality from the players was amazing.”  

Potter was forced into a tactical switch a third of the way in the match when it became clear that his side were losing the midfield battle.

Marc Cucurella, playing on the left of a three-man defensive unit, was taken off in favour of Mateo Kovacic, who joined Jorginho and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the midfield. 

It settled Chelsea somewhat, but the forward players, including the out-of-sorts Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, rarely looked like threatening the opponents’ goal. With defences on top, Raheem Sterling struggled too.  

Ten Hag’s omission of Cristiano Ronaldo from the matchday squad for failing to come on in the previous match against Tottenham was always going to be a distraction. The Dutchman, however, preferred to focus on his side’s attacking display.

Marcus Rashford looked bright for much of the match, with winger Antony showing flashes of brilliance too.  

He added: “It’s the fourth game in 10 days, and you see, especially with strikers, there’s a little bit of lack of freshness especially in the end. Also then the power you get a lack of, and we didn't score the goals.

“But I think also we also didn’t concede big chances, so that was the good thing, and I think a point was a fair result.”