By Samuel A. September 20, 2025
A frantic Premier League encounter on Saturday evening saw struggling Manchester United beat World Champions Chelsea, easing the pressure that had been mounted on head coach Ruben Amorim and giving them a positive to hold on to in their poor run of form.
United made a blistering start and caught the Chelsea defenders disorganized in the pouring Old Trafford rain. Robert Sanchez was sent off five minutes into the game after a reckless challenge, taking down Bryan Mbeumo, denying him a goalscoring opportunity. It was the earliest send off in Chelsea history. Goals from Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro then put the Red Devils firmly in control, and it was already looking like a long night for Enzo Maresca and his side heading into the break. Casemiro recklessly took down Andrey Santos and got his second warning, leveling the playing field to 10 each in the first half stoppage-time. His reckless decision to pull down Andrey Santos less than 10 minutes later opened the door for Chelsea.
Chelsea were all at sea before then and Enzo Maresca took action out of panic to try and prevent the slide after Sanchez’s red card, making three substitutions with just 21 minutes on the clock, the earliest a manager has ever done so in the Premier League. Cole Palmer was a surprise sacrifice for Chelsea, but it later became apparent that the groin issue he had supposedly shaken off after defeat at Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the Champions League was still bothering him.
Chelsea did not register a single shot on target until Chalobah headed in at the back post from James’ cross with about 10 minutes of normal time to go. United had gone into their shells, fearing a late comeback, but there was not enough conviction from the visitors to capitalise on the wobble. They failed to take advantage of their attacking opportunities, and it made them pay, as they extended their nearly 13-year winless run at Old Trafford.
Alejandro Garnacho did not get the Old Trafford return he would have hoped for as he was booed by the home fans and denied the opportunity to enter the fray by a late injury to Fofana, as well as the coach opting for Tyrique George, which used up Chelsea’s final substitutions. Maresca’s side return to West London after a sobering week: a draw at Brentford followed by defeats in Munich and Manchester. Chelsea are just one point ahead of United in the table after five games.
Amorim has now won back-to-back Premier League home games for the first time since taking charge. The second half performance was unconvincing, but the three points will create some breathing space for now. Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes said after the game: “Every three points is massive in this moment because we haven’t started the season as we wanted. But we go game by game. Today was massive and the next one will be massive too. Every goal is important. It doesn’t matter the moment. A big moment for me, reaching that milestone for a massive club. I’m very happy, I won’t hide from that, but it wasn’t something I was trying to achieve when I came to the club. It was about trying to do the best I could and obviously if I can get more goals to help the team win games, that is what matters the most. We were more sit back, try not to concede goals, not let them play through the lines as they have a lot of players who like to drop to play. It was about pushing them to the sides to cross the ball, as we had big players. We still conceded the goal from the corner, but we defended very well. We got the result we wanted in the end.”
