Match report: Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd
Ben Bloom was at Stamford Bridge for us tonight. I’ll leave you with his report – goodnight.
Chelsea reaction
Marc Cucurella
I’m very happy. Thank you to my friend [looks over his shoulder at James]. We train a lot [on moves like this], I know that I need to arrive in this position.
It’s a very important win. We’ve been working for these moments all season; now we have two games left. We need to push hard and finish the season strongly.
Reece James
[On the goal] I knew I had space and time. I just put it in an area – I knew if I did that, this man would be arriving.
We’ve been working the whole season. The messages have been clear from the start – at times executing them has been hard but this is what we do day in, day out.
The game was tough. They came here, they went man for man. It was quite unexpected. We knew we needed to cut out and score and we did that.
I feel confident [in his body]. It’s the most I’ve played in a few seasons and I’m happy to help the team. Hopefully we can finish off the right way. The Champions League is where the club belongs.
Seventh-placed Nottingham Forest play at West Ham on Sunday. If they don’t win they’ll realistically be out of contention for the Champions League, which could make Chelsea’s task at the City Ground a lot easier.
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Man Utd have now gone eight league games without a win, their worst run since the ‘Ta-ra Fergie’ spell in 1989-90. That story had a happy ending. This one, who knows.
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Full time: Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd
Chelsea’s Champions League fate remains in their hands after a nervy but ultimately deserved victory over Manchester United. A poor game was settled by a fine 71st-minute goal, Marc Cucurella planting an accomplished header into the net from Reece James’ inviting cross.
Chelsea weren’t particularly good but this is May, when results > performances. Man Utd were miserable in both departments.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 36 | 46 | 83 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 36 | 33 | 68 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 36 | 23 | 66 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 37 | 20 | 66 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 37 | 9 | 66 |
| 6 | Man City | 36 | 24 | 65 |
| 7 | Nottm Forest | 36 | 12 | 62 |
| 8 | Brentford | 36 | 10 | 55 |
| 9 | Brighton | 36 | 3 | 55 |
| 10 | AFC Bournemouth | 36 | 12 | 53 |
| 11 | Fulham | 36 | 1 | 51 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 36 | -2 | 49 |
| 13 | Everton | 36 | -5 | 42 |
| 14 | Wolverhampton | 36 | -13 | 41 |
| 15 | West Ham | 36 | -17 | 40 |
| 16 | Man Utd | 37 | -12 | 39 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | 37 | 2 | 38 |
| 18 | Ipswich | 36 | -42 | 22 |
| 19 | Leicester | 36 | -47 | 22 |
| 20 | Southampton | 36 | -57 | 12 |
90+8 min A moron is on the pitch, being chased by stewards. There are probably 30 seconds remaining at the most.
90+5 min Palmer is booked for taking too long over a corner.
90+3 min Make that six bookings. Heaven overruns the ball and dives in on Gusto. Both players went in with their studs showing; Heaven got the ball and then followed through into Gusto’s shin. It’ll be checked by VAR but the relative lack of force will probably stop it being upgraded to a red.
90+1 min: Chelsea substitution Malo Gusto replaces Pedro Neto.
90 min Ugarte lunges at Cucurella and becomes the fifth Man Utd player to be booked. There will be seven minutes of added time.
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87 min Chelsea are managing this well, keeping Manchester United pinned in their own half.
That said, United have been dreadful since going a goal down, and they weren’t exactly Hungary 1953 reincarnate beforehand.
86 min Chelsea’s goal difference means they are essentially guaranteed to finish in the top five if they win tonight and at the City Ground next weekend. Poor though the game has been, Chelsea have done more than enough to deserve three points.
84 min Man Utd look resigned to an 18th league defeat of the season; that’s the most since they were relegated in 1974. They’re awful – but the same team has scored 13 goals in three home matches in the knockout rounds of the Europa League. I have no idea.
82 min: Double substitution for Man Utd Ayden Heaven and Kobbie Mainoo come on for Luke Shaw and Bruno Fernandes.
81 min: Chelsea substitution Romeo Lavia replaces Tyrique George, who worked hard in an unfamiliar role up front. That presumably means a switch to 4-3-3 with Cole Palmer playing as a false nine.
Good save by Sanchez
79 min It’s raining shots on target. Amad crackles infield from the right, hugging the ball on his left foot and teasing Cucurella. Eventually he shifts the ball and whacks a shot from the angle that is pushed round the near post by Sanchez. Nice effort from Amad, who is at his most dangerous when he has a defender backpedalling into the are.a
78 min Make that three, a shot from the edge of the area by Neto that Onana saves comfortably.
78 min Manchester United still haven’t had a shot on target. Chelsea have only had two but at the moment that looks like enough.
77 min Garnacho tries to run James and ends up on the floor holding his face. The referee invites him to get to his feet.
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76 min This is the Champions League race as things stand.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Newcastle | 36 | 23 | 66 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 37 | 20 | 66 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 37 | 9 | 66 |
| 6 | Man City | 36 | 24 | 65 |
| 7 | Nottm Forest | 36 | 12 | 62 |
75 min “Hi Rob,” says Peter Oh. “What better way for the Europa League finalists to prepare for the big match than by doing what they do best?”
Great chance for Madueke!
73 min Chelsea should be home and hosed. Palmer receives the ball on the half turn and guides a perfect angled pass through to Madueke. He controls it immaculately on the run but then slices well wide from 12 yards.
Reece James, on the edge of the area in the inside-right channel, pirouetted neatly away from Garnacho and teased a beautiful cross to the far post. Cucurella got between Lindelof and Mazraoui to power a fine header back across Onana and into the net. That’s an excellent goal, one that the usually inscrutable Enzo Maresca celebrates with a primeval roar to the heavens.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd (Cucurella 71)
Chelsea’s full-backs combine for a priceless goal!
70 min: Double substitution for Man Utd Manuel Ugarte and Alejandro Garnacho replace Casemiro and Mason Mount.
69 min Diallo is booked for diving in the Chelsea area. Good spot from Chris Kavanagh; Amad took his punishment without complaint.
68 min “I have watched quite a lot of this Man Utd ghost ship these past couple of months and as someone who remembers Sir Alex Ferguson’s juggernaut smashing the opposition, I guess there is still an element of schadenfreude,” writes Steve Grundy. “However, I do feel a bit sorry for Højlund, who just seems lost out there & is seriously low on confidence. Surely it would be better to take him out of the firing line? (No doubt, he’ll bag a hat trick now.)”
If Joshua Zirkzee was fit I’m sure he’d be playing tonight and in the Europa League final. The only other option is Chido Obi, who is a) 17 and b) ineligible in the Europa League. I thought he might get more minutes in the Premier League though.
66 min This is a horrible game of football. Seventeen years ago, these were the two best teams in Europe.
64 min Mazraoui flattens Colwill and is booked. That looks a bit harsh – I’m not sure how Mazraoui could get out of the way as Colwill ran towards him. They collided and Colwill went down.
No penalty!
63 min Chris Kavanagh looks at the video and changes his mind. A simple decision really. Onana didn’t need to come out that far, with George going nowhere, but he got a strong hand on the ball.
62 min Replays show that Onana got a decent touch on the ball so this will probably be overturned. Yep, the referee is going to the monitor.
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Penalty to Chelsea!
61 min Man Utd are disputing it but Onana has been penalised after coming a long way off his line to dive at the feet of George.
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60 min This is a huge half hour for Chelsea and particularly Enzo Maresca. You’d expect him to be in charge next season regardless, but Chelsea are approaching a fork in the road: Champions League to the left, Europa League to the right.
58 min Chelsea don’t have any attackers on the bench, just defenders and midfielders. Nicolas Jackson is suspended, Jadon Sancho ineligible and both Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu are injured.
56 min “There’s an entrenched and soundly reasoned idea out there, that eventually Premier League clubs will be so rich that they’ll hoard all the football talent and English teams will sweep all before them in the Champions League,” says Kári Tulinius. “But looking at the nonsense sides these two extremely wealthy institutions are fielding, full of expensive round pegs in square holes designed by well-remunerated coaches, I can’t help but wonder if decadence won’t be too much of a drag on the Premier League superclubs. Considering their resources, basic economics suggest Manchester United and Chelsea should field good sides, but these two teams are lukewarm wastewater. Neither club faces any economic pressure to be better. One or both could be in the Champions League next season. That makes no football sense.”
55 min Fernandes whacks over from the edge of the box after a quick break involving Mount and then Amad. Fernandes is frustrated because he wanted an earlier pass from Amad. By the time it came he had to take the short first time under pressure from Cucurella.
54 min “At our school, instead of amo-amas-amat, it was laudo-laudas-laudat,” says Niall Mullen. “In an all-boys school in eighties Ireland I guess the concept of love was just too dangerous, even in Latin.”
Chance for Mason Mount!
52 min Mount turns well, finds Amad on the right and keeps running. Amad goes at Cucurella and then pushes the ball back to Mount, who slices well wide from 15 yards with his left foot. It wasn’t the easiest ball to take on the run, especially with his weaker foot, but it was still a chance.
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51 min “Was that commentary from Mexico vs USA really Scott Murray,” begins Jason Jawando, “or was he using an early version of AI to file his report while he relaxed on a sun lounger or whatever it was journalists did to relax in 2002?”
There was AI in 2002? I thought the only AI back then came out of Ali G’s mouth.
50 min This is a bit weird. The referee has ordered Rasmus Hojlund to remove some strapping and possibly a bit of jewellery. He runs to give it to the kit man, then has to stay off the field for 30 seconds.
49 min James’ free-kick hits the wall.
Full time: Aston Villa 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur
That result means Chelsea have to win tonight, or else.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Newcastle | 36 | 23 | 66 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 37 | 9 | 66 |
| 5 | Man City | 36 | 24 | 65 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 37 | 19 | 64 |
| 7 | Nottm Forest | 36 | 12 | 62 |
48 min Casemiro pulls back Palmer 25 yards from goal and is booked.
47 min “Rob,” says Brian Broderick. “One love: Amo(rim), Amas(s), Amad…”
46 min Chelsea get the second half under way; no substitutions.
Half-time entertainment
Hard to imagine, but the internet was once an innocent place. The hilarious commentary cited in this clip actually came from Scott Murray’s liveblog of the game.
Half time: Chelsea 0-0 Man Utd
The bad news is that was a dreadful first half. The good news is that Roy Keane is about to express the previous sentence in a more entertaining manner.
Chelsea had slightly the better of a nervy, scrappy contest and came closest to scoring when Reece James hit the post with a classy long-range strike. Harry Maguire thought he’d put Manchester United ahead with an excellent finish on the half-volley; alas, his shoulder was offside and the goal was ruled out.
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45+3 min “Can I just point out to Matt Dony that he’ll never amass any friends at parties with that kind of pun on people’s names patter?” says Justin Kavanagh. “And he can’t dony it.”
Palmer denied by Onana
45 min Madueke moves infield form the left and pushes the ball back to Palmer, who whips a deflected shot from 20 yards that is clawed away by Onana, leaping to his left. Fernandez puts the rebound over from eight yards, a lamentable miss that didn’t matter because replays showed he was offside. Palmer’s would have counted.
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45 min James is on his feet and back on the field after his mandatory 30 seconds on the touchline.
43 min Reece James is down with an ankle problem. He went up for a header and then landed on Patrick Dorgu’s foot, forcing him to roll his right ankle. This doesn’t look great, especially so close to the Conference League final.
42 min Chelsea continue to dominate between the boxes. Man Utd need half time, because if this carries on Chelsea will have the first shot on target any minute now.
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40 min “I do hope Harry Amass has some clever, Latin-based amo-amas-amat type nickname,” says Matt Dony. “Every time I read his name I go through the full list of conjugations. And, yes, I am good fun at parties.”
It’s a sign of our respective educations that my idea of a nickname for him was ‘contradictions’. Catchy too.
38 min In the last 15 minutes Chelsea have had five shots – all off target, mind – to United’s none. If it carries on like this we’ll have a late contender for stinker of the season.
36 min Neto, the most urgent attacker on the pitch, beats Dorgu with a Cruyff turn but then crosses too close to Onana. That’s the second time he’s done that tonight.
35 min Mount spins Fernandez beautifully and is fouled. I’m surprised that didn’t merit a yellow card because Mount had broken the midfield line.
34 min Chelsea fart around just outside the Man Utd area, which allows Maguire to boot the ball off Neto and behind for a goalkick.
There’s been a goal at Villa Park. If you don’t want to know who scored, don’t click this bait.
33 min Madueke runs Mazraoui and drives a dangerous low cross that is put behind by Casemiro. His near-post positioning was really good there.
31 min Bruno Fernandes is booked for a late tackle on Caicedo. He tried to kick the ball, missed and booted Caicedo in the shin. No studs showing, hence yellow rather than red. Caicedo accepted Fernandes’s apology.
31 min Chelsea are applying some sustained pressure for the first time, and why not.
30 min “Special shout out to Blair Geddes,” says Simon McMahon. “Broughty centre half, all round good guy, and now North of Tay cup winner.”
29 min Neto’s corner eventually leads to a big penalty appeal when Fernandez’s volley hits the arm of Hojlund a couple of yards away. Hojlund’s arm was slightly away from his body but his proximity to Fernandes means it isn’t a penalty.
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28 min Palmer tries to change that with a neat shuffle away from Fernandes and a shot from 20 yards that deflects behind for a corner. Might have been going wide anyway.
27 min Shots on target: Chelsea 0-0 Man Utd. It’s not great.
25 min “Evening Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “In the absence of anything to report where you are, I’m currently watching the North of Tay Amateur Cup Final at Glenesk Park in Dundee, home of Dundee Violet, winners of the Scottish Junior Cup in 1929, between Broughty United AFC and Stobswell AFC.
“It’s been a ding-dong battle, with Broughty taking an early lead, only to be pegged back via a brilliant free-kick from Stobswell. Broughty then went 3-1 up before again conceding, and currently lead 4-2 with about 10 minutes to go. About 300 in attendance, plenty swearing, pints and pies, and that’s just the kids.”
James hits the post!
24 min Diallo is down but it’s not a head injury so Chelsea play on. Madueke’s cross from the left byline is half cleared to James, 22 yards from goal. He watches the bounce carefully and cuts across a beautiful strike that beats Onana and thumps off the outside of the far post. Lovely technique.
22 min Dorgu plays a sharp square pass form the left towards Mount on the edge of the area. He slips in the act of shooting and the ball veers away from a throw-in on the far side; the home fans enjoyed that.
20 min More groans as a pass from Enzo Fernandez goes astray. Chelsea need a goal – or even a chance - to change the mood.
19 min Sanchez slices a pass that almost goes out for a throw-in near the corner flag. Chelsea are weirdly nervous.
No goal! Chelsea 0-0 Man Utd
Maguire’s shoulder was offside so the goal is ruled out. It was Spandex-tight but it looked off to the naked eye and the semi-automated technology confirmed as much.
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Chelsea didn’t manage to get out following that Fernandes corner. United recycled possession and Fernandes whipped a beautiful ball into the middle from the left wing. Maguire met it on the half-volley, 12 yards out, and slammed it past Sanchez. Cracking finish.
There’s a VAR check for offside though. I think he might be just off.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Man Utd (Maguire 16)
The big man puts Manchester United ahead!
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15 min Dorgu bursts down the left to win the first corner of the game. Fernanes’s inswinger is headed away at the near post, and on we go.
13 min After a promising start to the game, it’s been a scruffy, stop-start little period. Nothing to report.
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12 min Maguire is fine.
11 min Maguire is down after being accidentally caught in the face by George, so the referee stops play. The crowd boo because head injuries are so passe.
7 min It’s been a bright start from both teams. Man Utd are seeing plenty of the ball at the moment.
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5 min: Chance for Chelsea! Palmer threads a wonderful through pass that is shinned over on the run by Madueke, 10 yards from goal. I think he was offside so it wouldn’t have counted, but the pass from Palmer was exquisite.
3 min A delicious first-time cross from Fernandes on the right is heading towards Mount at the far post when James stretches to boot the ball somewhere, anywhere. It loops up and is claimed by Sanchez. That was a really important touch from James, without which Mount would have had a stooping header at goal from about eight yards.
1 min Peep peep! Man Utd kick off from left to right as we watch, and Mason Mount’s first touch is greeted with a paean to Joe Root.
“I never thought it could get worse than the Moyes Season,” says Christopher Faherty. “Then I never thought it could get worse than The Ragnick Interrignum. Now we’re here. Further to fall?”
Always.
“‘We will retain Amorim even if we do not win the Big Vase’ (more alarming when they play Spurs) is not a statement that boosts someone’s confidence, does it?” says Krishnamoorthy V. “What must one old Scot be thinking these days? Should he come back for an encore?”
He’s probably thinking: ‘You think this lot are bad, you should have seen my team in 1989-90.’ I can’t get away from the fact that, had modern values prevailed in the late 1980s, Alex Ferguson would have won precisely no trophies at Manchester United, and he’d probably still be plain old Alex Ferguson. We’ve all gone mad. I went mad in 2006 so I can’t really criticise anyone.
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These gentlemen are about to take the field.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; James, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Enzo; Neto, Palmer, Madueke; George.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Bettinelli, Gusto, Acheampong, Chalobah, Anselmino, Badiashile, Lavia, Dewsbury-Hall.
Man Utd (3-4-2-1) Onana; Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Fernandes, Dorgu, Amad, Mount; Hojlund.
Substitutes: Bayindir, Amass, Fredricson, Heaven, Collyer, Eriksen, Mainoo, Ugarte, Garnacho.
Referee Chris Kavanagh.
There are some games, like now – the one or two, three games we have – that tactics are important but it’s also other aspects. That is players taking responsibility and also showing desire to bring this club – we said many times – where it has to be.
The Joy of Six: Chelsea v Manchester United
This one’s from the archive, but Scott Murray is always worth reading.
Ron Harris had many qualities, but subtlety was not one of them. Here he is heaving into view from way out, belabouring George Best’s ankles with a proper old-school reducer. It’s a textbook piece of uberviolence – a vicious sliding tackle perfectly timed and executed, as graceful as brutality can ever get – but it was all for naught. Best ignored Chopper’s galoot-isms, somehow retained his balance – despite being kicked almost horizontal in mid-air – and continued his run.
Beauty and the beast. As the willowy, long-haired Best sashays round the keeper and calmly slots home, as androgynous as you like, Harris, bloated with testosterone, picks himself heavily off the turf.
Enzo Maresca’s pre-match thoughts
[On see Tyrique George making his first Premier League start] He’s a young talent who can give up lots of energy. We need to attack in behind and he can do that.
[On leaving out Chalobah and Lavia] It’s just the gameplan. We try to pick the best XI for each game and hopefully we’ve done that tonight.
Two games to go. It’s just on us; hopefully we can the first game tonight and then focus on the next one.
Ruben Amorim on his team selection
We have five days to prepare for the final. We are focussed on this game. Sometimes the best way to prepare for a final is to play and to compete; we’ve had problems in that area so I want to see the team compete. They need the time to prove they are ready for the final.
The biggest [injury] problems we’ve had this season have been in training – Amad, Kobbie Mainoo – so you never know where the danger is.
I saw so many good things against West Ham but I don’t want to share them when we are losing games because it’s hard for our fans to understand. I am still confident. I know what to do for this team. This is not the moment for that. This is the moment to share the pain with our fans.
People don’t understand how things are changing in Carrington. We need to finish this season and then let’s see.
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Follow Aston Villa v Spurs
Both Europa League finalists are in action tonight. Spurs kick off away to Aston Villa at 7.30pm – you can follow that game with Yara El-Shaboury.
Team news
Tyrique George makes his first Premier League start, covering for the suspended Nicolas Jackson, as flagged by ‘Scoops’ Steinberg below. Reece James and Tosin Adarabioyo also come into the side in place of Romeo Lavia and Trevor Chalobah.
Manchester United’s team is stronger than expected, with maybe nine of the XI that will start the Europa League final on Wednesday. There are five changes from the tame defeat at home to West Ham on Sunday: Andre Onana, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Casemiro and Patrick Dorgu replace Altay Bayindir, the injured Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Harry Amass and Kobbie Mainoo.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; James, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Enzo; Neto, Palmer, Madueke; George.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Bettinelli, Gusto, Acheampong, Chalobah, Anselmino, Badiashile, Lavia, Dewsbury-Hall.
Man Utd (3-4-2-1) Onana; Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Fernandes, Dorgu, Amad, Mount; Hojlund.
Substitutes: Bayindir, Amass, Fredricson, Heaven, Collyer, Eriksen, Mainoo, Ugarte, Garnacho.
Referee Chris Kavanagh.
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Nicolas Jackson’s ridiculous red card against Newcastle leaves Enzo Maresca with a problem in attack. Chelsea have lost their main striker to suspension for the rest of the league season and need to adjust when they host Manchester United. Options are thin on the ground. Christopher Nkunku is unwanted and has been unavailable in recent weeks, the inexperienced Marc Guiu is returning from a hamstring injury and Jadon Sancho is ineligible against his parent club. Sancho would not have played up front but having him available would have meant there was an experienced alternative on the flanks should Maresca have repeated a solution from previous times of need and moved Pedro Neto into a central role. As it is Chelsea will probably have to place their trust in the exciting teenager Tyrique George. Jacob Steinberg
Preamble
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Chelsea v Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. On current form we could probably have given this one to the pools panel and saved everyone the bother. Chelsea are in desperate need of points and have won seven of the last eight league games at Stamford Bridge; Manchester United, who haven’t won a Premier League game in two months, only have eyes for next week’s Europa League final.
Football is a funny old game, so you never know. But Chelsea need it to be ultra-serious tonight: if they fail to win, a Champions League place will be out of their hands.
Kick off 8.15pm
