Some post-match reaction for you:
So all that’s left is to usher you towards Daniel Taylor’s take on a wonderfully entertaining afternoon at Stamford Bridge. Thanks for reading this MBM. See you later for Huddersfield-Liverpool.
Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United: our video report of the game pic.twitter.com/rYSOjvV73d
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) October 20, 2018
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Sarri speaks, with refreshing grace and honesty. “We have done a very good first half, but we were not very good in the second. We didn’t play our football. In a physical match, United is better than us. Tactically, the match was the same in both halves, but I need to study the second half. I don’t know why. The match after the international break is always very difficult, it’s no easy. But it was a fantastic match. In the second half, it was a physical match, it was not for us. Sincerely, I did not see what happened at the end of the match. But I have spoken to Jose, then a couple of members of our staff. We were on the wrong side. I cannot tell everything, but I am not really happy. I understood that we were on the wrong side.”
And then he’s asked whether, having promised before the game to respect Chelsea, he got that respect back: “No I don’t think so. But that is not my responsibility. I have a certain level of education, socially and in sport. What I did here today I would do in Porto and Madrid and Milan, try to behave always the same way, which I did. The reaction of the fans is up to them. I am not annoyed with anything. What happened was with Sarri’s assistant, and Sarri came to me and said he would resolve the problem internally. Then Sarri’s assistant came to me in Sarri’s office and apologised, and I said if you really feel that way and want to apologise, of course I accept it, and forget it because I have made lots of mistakes in my career and I’m not going to kill you because of one. It is over, he apologised, and I accepted it!”
Jose speaks! “I can tell you that the 97-minutes game was so good that you have to focus on that. We were the best team on the pitch. If you say before the match, one point at Stamford Bridge is always a good result. But after it, the way the game was, it was an awful result for us, and a phenomenal result for them. It is different from the Newcastle match, because in the first half of that, we were not there. But in this game we were there. We were in the game. We controlled Hazard, Jorginho, we were in complete control. We had positions to score the third goal, we were the best team. The referee gave six minutes; normally when I am losing I never get six minutes. I do not know where the extra time came from. We always tried to play, even in extra time. But that is football.”
Zen master Antonio Rudiger speaks. “To bounce back at the end, we can be happy to take the point. I saw the benches were standing up, but there are emotions, this is football. I didn’t see anything. But it’s OK, at the end of the day we shake hands. At least everything is calmed down now, everyone can go home.”
More on that last-gasp equaliser, then. Azpilicueta swung in a deep cross from the right. Luiz, out on the left, rose magnificently and planted a downwards header across a rooted de Gea and off the right-hand post. The ball broke to Rudiger, who headed down from six yards. De Gea stuck an arm out to parry brilliantly, but Barkley was on hand to slam home. At which point Sarri lifted his arms in jubilation, a member of his backroom team cavorted in front of the United box, and the red mist consumed Mourinho. To be fair to the United manager, he embraced Sarri at the final whistle, and the two seemed to part on good terms. But there was still time for him to reply to dismissive chants from the Chelsea faithful with three fingers, one for each Premier League title he won at Stamford Bridge.
FULL TIME: Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United
Oh yes, and the full-time whistle’s just gone. There had been a football match going on. Remember that?
90 min +8: This is madness. We’ve not restarted on the pitch yet, but the players nearly erupt into a brawl as well. On the touchline, a rerun of the Mourinho incident: a member of the Chelsea staff got right up in Mourinho’s grille, celebrating in front of the United boss, who jumped up and tried to run after him down the tunnel. A steward got into the road and stopped things escalating further.
Updated
GOAL! Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United (Barkley 90+6)
A melee in the United box. The ball pings off the right-hand post and falls to Barkley, who slams home from close range! And then a melee on the touchline, as a member of the Chelsea staff runs close to a fuming Mourinho, who looks to engage him in earnest dialogue! This is out of control.
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90 min +5: Pereira is booked for a time-wasting challenge, 30 yards from goal. It allows Chelsea to send the ball into the mixer. It’s sent out of play on the right. A chance for Azpilicueta to fling in a throw. From which ...
90 min +4: Sanchez is booked for a clip on Jorginho’s ankles as Chelsea look to attack. Hazard dribbles down the left and tries to score an outrageous goal from a tight angle. Nope.
90 min +2: Lukaku - who has been much improved in the second half - storms down the right and looks for Pogba, marauding down the middle. Rudiger sticks out a telescopic leg and guides the ball back to Kepa. Chelsea go up the other end, through Pedro on the left. Pedro whips a low cross to the near post; Giroud clanks it out of play under pressure from Lindelof behind. There’s a claim for a penalty but there didn’t seem to be much contact. The referee’s not having it, anyway.
90 min: Alonso crosses from the left. Azpilicueta blams over from the edge of the box. There will be six added minutes; it was always going to be like this, wasn’t it.
88 min: United spend a little time in Chelsea’s half. They go nowhere, but that’s not really the point: the clock is their friend now.
86 min: Alonso swings one in from the left. Pedro tries to meet it acrobatically, coming in from the other wing. But no. United - who appear to be battling for their manager, what’s that everyone’s been saying again? - launch clear.
85 min: Chelsea win a corner down the right, and waste it. Then Sanchez finally comes on for Rashford. All that faffing around has certainly raised the temperature around Stamford Bridge; the fans are howling with rage, and Sarri’s still on a rolling boil. Welcome back, Premier League!
83 min: United prepare to send Sanchez and Pereira on. But for who? Rashford goes down injured and United have a good old think about it. On the touchline, Sarri goes spare at what he considers to be brazen timewasting. Eventually Pereira comes on for Martial, but the other switch isn’t made yet.
81 min: Herrera, hoping to latch onto a Pogba cut-back from the right, goes over Kante’s leg in the Chelsea area. Screams for a penalty, but it looked a fair tackle.
80 min: Lukaku flicks on a long ball, and suddenly Herrera’s free in the Chelsea box! Kepa comes out to close down the angle. Not particularly convincingly, and Herrera is given the chance to guide the ball past him and into the empty net. But he doesn’t connect properly.
79 min: Giroud comes on for the ineffectual Morata. Meanwhile the travelling United fans sing their support for Jose Mourinho.
78 min: Chelsea are the league leaders in late goals. Nobody’s scored more in the final 15 minutes of matches than Sarri’s side: eight to Arsenal’s six. They’ll be desperate to find another. But they’ll have to do better than this: Hazard flings a free kick from the right into the area; Alonso takes a fresh-air swipe by the far post. Goal kick.
76 min: Rashford goes sliding in on Barkley, who wants a free kick on the edge of the United box. He’s not getting it.
Updated
75 min: And now Herrera comes on for Mata, as United presumably look to lock it down.
74 min: Pedro comes on for Willian.
Updated
GOAL! Chelsea 1-2 Manchester United (Martial 73)
Mata bursts past Luiz on the right. He shuttles the ball inside to Rashford, on the right-hand edge of the D. Rashford keeps the ball moving left, for Martial, in space in the left of the area. Martial takes a touch back inside, then curls an unstoppable effort into the bottom right! Kepa had no chance! And Jose Mourinho’s comeback kings are at it again!
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71 min: Hazard drifts down the inside-right channel, then cuts the ball back for Kante, who is in acres on the edge of the box. Kante takes a touch to the right, then pearls a shot towards the bottom left. It’s on target, a fine effort, but de Gea’s save, made at full stretch, is even better! Alonso tries to meet the rebound, but nothing’s doing.
69 min: Barkley comes on for Kovacic.
68 min: Lukaku finds a bit of time and space down the left. He dinks a cross into the middle. Fine work, but there’s nobody there to take advantage and Luiz clears. After a poor first half, United are giving as good as they’re getting. Where have we heard this before?
67 min: Mata bustles down the middle. For a second he threatens to break into the area, but Azpilicueta comes across to blast clear. Mata keeps going and takes out his former team-mate. Oof, ooyah, that’s gotta hurt. Mata’s booked, and the pair embrace with a smile when Azpilicueta finally picks himself up.
66 min: A free kick for Chelsea out on the right. Willian swings it in. And once again, United’s defending is beyond parody; they allow Luiz a free header from ten yards. Unlike Rudiger in the first half, Luiz can’t take advantage, and sends a lame effort wide left. What a chance spurned!
65 min: This is set up nicely now. Chelsea have recovered a little from the blow of the equaliser; United meanwhile look a totally different proposition now. A reminder that, for all United’s travails this season, they’d be only four points behind Chelsea tonight if they were to find a winner.
63 min: Pogba drops deep and sends one of his low diagonal fizzers, left to right, towards Lukaku, who powers off down the wing. Luiz, the last man, does very well to stop him getting a shot away, limiting the damage to a corner. The set piece leads to nothing.
62 min: Another corner for Chelsea, out on the left again. The ball drops to Kovacic, who takes a fresh-air swipe. United clear.
60 min: Hazard probes once more down the left. He drops a shoulder to cut into the area, and sees his low, slightly scuffed, shot deflected wide for a corner. From which nothing occurs.
59 min: So much for Chelsea’s early second-half confidence. Their balloon has been thoroughly deflated. They can hardly string two passes together. Now it’s the hosts who have to clear their heads.
57 min: Pogba takes up possession 30 yards from goal, turns and curls powerfully towards the top right. Kepa’s got it covered, just about, and it’s high and wide. But suddenly the visitors have their tails up! Chelsea, meanwhile, were annoyed that Alonso was lying on the floor as the ball pinged around their penalty area during the build-up to United’s equaliser, and they addressed the ref accordingly. But the whistler wasn’t having a bar of it.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United (Martial 55)
United suddenly come alive, and push Chelsea back. Shaw swings a cross in from the left. Mata shoots, but Kepa parries. The ball breaks right. Young pearls a first-time cross-cum-shot back into the mixer. The ball defects off Jorginho, and drops kindly to Martial, who slams home from six yards!
Updated
53 min: Pogba, deep inside his own half on the left, tries to fizz a low, diagonal pass to the feet of Rashford, in a lot of space in Chelsea’s half on the right. It’s absurdly ambitious, but there’s nothing wrong with that. However there’s just a little bit too much on the pass, and it flies through to Kepa. Still, what vision!
52 min: Luiz beckenbauers his way up the pitch, and then one-twos with Hazard on the edge of the area. Hazard’s cheeky backheel sends Luiz striding into the box down the inside-left channel. He shoots, but it’s blocked. The resulting corner comes to nothing. Chelsea have come out looking very confident.
50 min: Hazard’s back up. He’s fine to continue. Young’s challenge was deemed hard but fair, hence no penalty or second yellow. Hazard’s not making a song and dance about it.
48 min: Hazard goes at Young down the left, then turns on the jets. He fires a fierce shot goalwards from a tight angle, but it’s safely gathered at his near post by de Gea. Young slides in a couple of milliseconds later, and catches Hazard, who goes down in pain, clutching his ankle.
47 min: A glorious, bustling burst from Jorginho, straight down the middle, past Smalling, on walkabout, with ease. He feeds Morata on the edge of the United box. Morata miscontrols, but is still able to spin and get a shot away. It’s not much of an effort, a dribbler towards the bottom left that’s easily snaffled by de Gea.
And we’re off again! No changes. Mourinho takes his seat in the dugout looking pretty relaxed. His team get the ball rolling once more.
Half-time reading:
Updated
HALF TIME: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United
Mata hoists a cross in from the left. Luiz clears. Then Martial pointlessly clatters into the back of Rudiger, releasing the pressure. Chelsea go up the other end, Willian not able to get the better of Shaw down the right. And that’s it for the first half. Chelsea have dominated, but needed Pogba to fall asleep in order to get their goal. They’ll hope to improve in the second half; United need to.
45 min: A rare United attack finds Pogba free down the left. He reaches the byline, but his pullback is to nobody in particular and easily cleared by Azpilicueta.
43 min: Chelsea knock the ball around in pretty triangles for an age. United can’t get a sniff of it at all.
41 min: Jorginho, out on the left, nearly releases Willian into the United area with a glorious crossfield pass. Not quite, but the crowd appreciated the effort and ambition.
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40 min: Morata tries to curl one into the top right from distance, but it doesn’t go well. He’s been poor so far this afternoon; Giroud will have itchy feet right now.
39 min: Chelsea continue to push United back. But the visitors are looking a little more secure right now, holding their shape. Willian can’t open them up down the right.
37 min: Matic is robbed in the midfield. Chelsea stream forward. Alonso crosses from the left, hoping to find Morata, but Lindelof does very well to hold off the striker and head clear.
36 min: Chelsea with more of the passing.
34 min: Mata sends an uncharacteristically unimaginative free kick into the mixer; Morata heads clear without drama.
33 min: Chelsea hog the ball awhile. But then a fortunate ricochet finds Rashford out on the right. He races into acres of space, and is cynically brought down by Hazard on the right-hand edge of the box. A yellow card for Hazard, and a free kick in a very interesting position for United.
31 min: United’s defence goes AWOL again as Kante loops a pass down the inside-left channel. Alonso is totally free in the area! But he can’t take the balll down and United escape. If that had been Hazard, United would have been in all sorts of bother.
30 min: Rudiger is booked for contesting an aerial challenge with Pogba a little bit too roughly. A moment of concern for United as Pogba holds his shoulder and grimaces, but he’ll be OK by the looks of it.
Updated
28 min: Rashford and Luiz come together in the Chelsea box as the former cuts in from the right. It’s deemed a fair shoulder charge, and a goal kick. A couple of United players claimed a penalty, but Rashford wasn’t particularly annoyed about it.
27 min: United really do need to clear their heads. Young, who has already irritated the ref by chatting back, goes in the book for clattering into Hazard from behind.
26 min: They’ve just shown a replay of the goal. Pogba was certainly stationed to pick up Rudiger, but fell asleep as the defender span off from the left-hand corner of the box to meet the ball in the middle. Pogba then showcased his frustration in the super-animated style.
24 min: Hazard skedaddles down the left, drifts inside, and nearly breaks clear into the box. United need to clear their heads, and quickly.
Updated
23 min: Willian has a little look down the right, but can’t get anything going and eventually swings the ball out of play for a goal kick. United look a little stunned; they had started promisingly, only for their defence to let them down yet again.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (Rudiger 21)
United’s defence goes off on holiday. Rudiger is allowed a free header from a central position, ten yards out. Into the bottom left it goes! De Gea had no chance. Rudiger was Pogba’s man, by the looks of it. A great header, but there was no resistance whatsoever!
Updated
20 min: Hazard probes down the left. He reaches the byline, pauses, and pulls one back for Kante, whose shot is blocked. Then another phase, as Kovacic slips a pass down the inside-left channel for Hazard, whose fizzer through the six-yard box forces Lindeof to hack out of play for a corner. From which ...
18 min: The corner is all the way back at de Gea’s feet in a matter of seconds.
17 min: But United come back at Chelsea again, Mata slipping the ball to Martial down the left. A corner.
16 min: Chelsea only half-clear the resulting free kick. Shaw, out on the left, curls a fine cross onto Lukaku’s head. The big striker sends a weak header wide left; he should have done much better.
Updated
15 min: Matic strides down the right and is upended by Kovacic. It’s a free kick, nothing more, but Young and his manager Mourinho are both incensed at the non-decision. Mourinho jigs and gesticulates on the touchline; Young harangues the ref so much he earns a good talking to.
13 min: Lukaku and Rashford cause a little bother down the right, but Jorginho intercepts and lays off to Hazard, who is manhandled from behind by Matic. The United player - who was lucky to escape censure a couple of minutes ago - goes in the book.
11 min: After taking an age to work out what to do, Willian leans back and sends a dismal free kick miles over the bar, and wide right to boot. He’s driven his manager to tabs: on the touchline, Sarri sucks pensively on a cigarette butt.
9 min: Young crashes into Hazard. It’s a clumsy barge in the back. The crowd want a yellow card, but it’s just a free kick, and Hazard doesn’t complain, winking at Young when he gets back up. From the free kick, Hazard dribbles across the front of the United box, left to right, forcing Matic to cynically bring him down just to the left of the D. This is going to cause United a little concern, as Willian, Luiz and Hazard stand over it.
7 min: A couple of promising bursts down the inside-left by Mata. He’s crowded out both times, but his ball-glued-to-toe bustling causes Chelsea some concern. Their former man is seeing plenty of the ball in the early exchanges.
5 min: Kante has a dig from 25 yards, and blooters it straight into his France team-mate Pogba’s startled coupon. Then some space for Alonso out on the right; he swings one in for Morata, who climbs all over Smalling and concedes a free kick. It’s been a brisk, promising start to the match.
3 min: But Chelsea are on the front foot too. Willian bursts down the right and swans past Shaw. He pulls the ball back for Hazard, but it’s bouncing and the Premier League’s hottest player can’t connect properly. He scuffs a shot, and the danger is gone.
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2 min: Young slips a ball down the right and nearly releases Rashford. Luiz comes across to slide the ball into touch. From the resulting throw, Mata earns a corner. United pack the box, but Azpilicueta heads the set piece clear without much fuss. A bright start by United, though.
And we’re off! Alvaro Morata gets the ball rolling! Luiz launches it long ... and straight out of play. A fine atmosphere at Stamford Bridge, as you’d expect for such a big match.
A blast of Parklife, then the Liquidator, and the teams are out! And it’s quite a picture on a crisp autumn afternoon; you can’t beat blue versus red. “A human zip file? Yeah, quite obsolete but hanging on, for now.” Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for IT/sport satirist Arvid Gerge.
“I like the way Jose praises Mata for being without ego and a team player, before referring to himself seven times in his last two sentences,” writes Ian Copestake. Yes, it was a great little interview, wasn’t it. Two minutes, and he’s registered his displeasure with Belgium and Chile, praised one player while possibly sending a shot across the bow of another, heaped pressure on Chelsea and Juventus, and done a PR number on the home fans. So much to decode and unpack from such a brief chat; he’s like a human zip file. A masterclass in communications, and entertaining to boot. We’ll miss him when he’s gone, you know.
Sarri talks! “Morata has trained very well in the last three days. Giroud played 90 minutes on Tuesday, while Morata played on Monday for only 20 minutes. Kovacic is very fresh; Ross has played two matches in four days so I thought it better to go with Kovacic. United’s starting XI is very offensive. But we want to perform with our philosophy and control the match, and avoid their counter-attacks. Hazard knows what to do; I want him to be absolutely free in the last 35 metres.”
Jose speaks; the world listens. “We have had a couple of training sessions, not at high intensity, but we have done some tactical work to try to prepare the team. We have lost a lot of players in the internationals, especially Fellaini, who was injured Thursday last week but we only realised he was injured Wednesday this week. Alexis come direct from Mexico to London, he didn’t even go to Manchester, we didn’t know his condition, but that’s international football. Mata is Mata, one of our, I like to call them, team players. He thinks about the team, he is not selfish or egocentric, he just wants to help. He is what I like to call a proper professional. This is a big match, in three days we play the best team in the country and, in Juventus, the best team in Europe. It gives to me a sense of happiness, to see the distance between them and us. These are fantastic matches, the feeling to play against the best teams is a great feeling. I cannot promise, but I hope if my team scores a goal, I will try to behave. If my team wins, I will try to be respectful, because that’s the way they were with me.”
Updated
Both teams make two changes to the starting XIs selected before the international break. Chelsea recall Mateo Kovacic and Alvaro Morata, dropping Ross Barkley and Olivier Giroud, who started the 3-0 win at Southampton, to the bench.
Manchester United reinstate Victor Lindelof and Juan Mata, while benching Eric Bailly. Scott McTominay, who was played all over the place in that 3-2 whirlwind affair with Newcastle, doesn’t feature at all.
The teams
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Willian, Morata, Hazard.
Subs: Fabregas, Barkley, Pedro, Caballero, Giroud, Zappacosta, Cahill.
Manchester United: de Gea, Young, Lindelof, Smalling, Shaw, Pogba, Matic, Rashford, Mata, Martial, Lukaku.
Subs: Bailly, Sanchez, Andreas Pereira, Fred, Ander Herrera, Romero, Darmian.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
... and we’re back!
The annoyingly protracted international break is over, and the Premier League returns with a bang. It’s one of the greatest rivalries in English football! It’s Chelsea versus Manchester United! It’s on!
Suffice to say there’s no real need to big this one up. But hey, let’s do so anyway.
That comeback against Newcastle United will feel like a lifetime ago for Jose Mourinho and Manchester United. It was, at once, one of the most risible and spectacular performances in the history of this storied club, not so much a game of two halves as a game of seven ninths and two ninths plus stoppage time. Will it prove to be Jose’s Mark Robins moment, as team and club rediscover their mojo? Or was it nothing more than a preposterous flash in the pan, a tale of sound and fury signifying nothing?
We’ll soon find out. In the next three weeks, United will play rejuvenated Everton, high-flying Bournemouth, the champions Manchester City, and Cristiano Ronaldo twice. It’s a season-defining run; potentially a career-defining one for Mourinho. But first the small matter of Chelsea.
That’s joint-top-of-the-league Chelsea. They’re unbeaten this season. They look revitalised under Maurizio Sarri. They’ve won their last three home fixtures against United, scoring six and conceding none. And they’ve not been beaten at Stamford Bridge by today’s visitors since 2012, and even then only when they were down to nine men. Throw in last season’s FA Cup final, and this looks a tall order for misfiring United.
But then United have historically made a habit of rescuing themselves when all looks lost; it’s in their DNA. An against-the-odds victory this lunchtime would generate some much-needed momentum; they’d suddenly be just four points behind Chelsea, and things would look a whole lot rosier. Alternatively, if Eden Hazard keeps up his recent carry-on and inspires Chelsea to a win, United’s designs on the title would take a serious hit, and the pressure on their former manager will be ratcheted up another notch. So this is poised deliciously. Yes, the Premier League is back alright, and with a bang. It’s one of the greatest rivalries in English football! It’s Chelsea versus Manchester United! It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm BST.
