I’ll leave you with David Hytner’s report from Stamford Bridge. Goodnight!
Bruno Fernandes’s verdict
The first half was really good from us. We had some problems in the middle after their tactical change. They got the goal from the penalty but the belief was there and we got a point. It’s not what we want, but it’s a good point. The main thing for me is the reaction at 1-0 down.
[On the penalty] I didn’t see the contact but I said to the referee that holding and things like that happen in every Premier League game. I don’t know, I have to see it.
[On Casemiro’s goal] First of all it’s a great cross from Luke. It was a fantastic header and we’re really happy for him.
[On Ronaldo] We don’t talk about that. We keep it inside [the dressing-room] and no one else has to know what we think, what we want or what is going to happen. The most important for everyone, including Cristiano, is that the team wins.
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Here’s that Casemiro goal. Watch Bruno Fernandes at the bottom of the screen.
WHAT A HEADER FROM CASEMIRO 🤯
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 22, 2022
Manchester United have equalised 🔴 pic.twitter.com/U3ari0WeI4
This is what it means at the top of the table
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 10 | 14 | 27 |
| 2 | Man City | 11 | 25 | 26 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 11 | 10 | 23 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 11 | 5 | 21 |
| 5 | Man Utd | 11 | 0 | 20 |
A largely dull, tactical game came alive in the last few minutes. Jorginho’s penalty gave Chelsea the lead in the 87th minute; then Casemiro – who was excellent throughout - scored his first goal for Manchester United, sparking wild celebrations in front of the away end.
A draw is probably a fair result. United were much better in the first half, Chelsea dominated the second.
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Full time: Chelsea 1-1 Man Utd
A fifth successive draw between Chelsea and Manchester United.
United had all their players forward from a set piece, which ultimately led to the goal. Shaw curled a routine cross beyond the far post, where the off balance Casemiro looped a tremendous header back across goal. Kepa did brilliantly to get a touch – for a second it looked like an incredible save - but he could only claw the ball against the inside of the post. The ball bounced across goal and was this far over the line before Kepa could pull it back.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Man Utd (Casemiro 90+4)
Casemiro has equalised with a mighty header!
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90+3 min Chalobah does superbly to divert Elanga’s low cross away from an onrushing United attacker, Antony I think.
90+2 min Martinez shoves Jorginho over before the free-kick is taken. Fernandes drives it deep and Chelsea clear.
90+2 min Jorginho is booked for an equally cynical foul on Elanga.
90 min There will be six minutes of added time.
90 min Shaw cynically legs up Azpilicueta and is booked.
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88 min Dalot’s cross is headed wide by McTominay, 12 yards out. A half chance at best.
It was a nerveless penalty. He sat de Gea down and passed the ball into the other side of the net.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd (Jorginho 87 pen)
Jorginho scores!
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86 min Fred is booked for dissent.
86 min United are still complaining. Jorginho is waiting to take the penalty.
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85 min Fouls like that aren’t always given, but when they are, the defender doesn’t really have a leg to stand on.
Scott McTominay has been penalised for grabbing Armando Broja at a corner. He can have no complaints, even if Broja made the most of it.
84 min: PENALTY TO CHELSEA!
83 min Broja tries to run Martinez, who bides his time and makes a good sliding tackle. He’s been excellent.
82 min “If it’s any consolation for Varane, after winning the last one, France are surely due one of their comedy World Cup campaigns this time,” says Matt Dony. “ He won’t miss much. I’m going with, Mbappe conspicuously ignoring the coach’s tactics, a series of increasingly tetchy press conferences, and a group stage exit followed by a slew of international retirements.”
81 min Fernandes is now playing as a false nine, with Elanga to the left and Antony on the right.
80 min And now a double change for United. Anthony Elanga and Scott McTominay come on for Christian Eriksen and Marcus Rashford.
79 min A double change for Chelsea. Carney Chukwuemeka and Armando Broja replace Raheem Sterling, who still hasn’t scored against Manchester United, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
78 min Fernandes blazes miles over the bar from distance.
76 min: A shot on target! Fernandes moves infield from the left, 25 yards from goal, and cracks a bouncing shot that is pushed round the near post by the diving Kepa.
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75 min Neither side has had a shot on target in the second half. United have only had one touch in the Chelsea penalty area.
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74 min: Chelsea substitution Christian Pulisic replaces Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
73 min: Chalobah hits the bar! Mount’s booming corner from the left finds Chalobah, who towers above Fred at the far post and heads against the top of the crossbar. I suspect de Gea had it covered, although I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
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73 min United are starting to look fatigued, and they don’t have much on the bench. Chelsea have been on top since Kovacic came on, albeit without creating many clear chances.
71 min Sterling’s low cross is put behind for another corner by Dalot. Chelsea take it short and make a mess of it.
68 min Fernandes’s imaginative through pass to Rashford is crucially intercepted by the sliding Chalobah.
68 min Mount wriggles stylishly away from Fred and hits a cross that is headed away by Martinez. Chelsea are on top at the moment.
67 min “The sight of a world-class defender, elegance personified, walking to the dressing room in tears at the prospect of missing his last possible World Cup, as an inebriated Chelsea fan with a beer-gut gives him an athletic rendition of the w*nker sign as a send-off...” says Allan Castle. “That’s what makes football a special game, isn’t it?”
66 min Sterling runs Shaw and drives a cross that is well cut out at the near post by Martinez. Then Loftus-Cheek’s cross is headed behind by Shaw.
65 min Stalemate.
62 min A decent United break ends with Fred shooting wastefully wide from the left edge of the area. He should have given the ball to the overlapping Shaw.
60 min Lindelof replaces Varane, who is walking round the side of the field and has just punched a corner flag in frustration.
59 min Varane is in serious pain, and Victor Lindelof is getting ready to come on. The poor bloke has had rotten luck with injuries, and this one could also affect his World Cup chances. He’s in tears, with his shirt over his head and all the United players consoling him. He must know it’s serious.
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58 min “Greetings from California,” says Peter Oh. “I woke up this morning to read the jarring news that Nottingham Forest beat Liverpool. What year are we in, 1977?! So this match between Chelsea and Man United is purely for mid-table respectability, is it?”
57 min Aubameyang beats Varane and Martinez on the left before being dispossessed by Casemiro. Moments later, Sterling gets caught in two minds when Kovacic’s cross reaches him beyond the far post.
Varane has stayed face down after trying to tackle Aubameyang, and he may well have jarred something.
55 min So far the second half has been one for the tacticians. There have been only two touches in the opposition penalty areas.
54 min “Mason Mount, supposedly the wholesome blue-eyed boy of English football, just seen on camera shouting ‘that’s f***ing s***’ at the referee three times because of a throw in call that didn’t go his way,” writes Tom Atkins. “Not sure how the FA are supposed to protect referees from abuse up and down the country if this kind of abuse is blithely tolerated at elite level and not remarked upon by either commentator.”
53 min “Even as an Arsenal fan, I wouldn’t be too harsh on Yash Gupta’s verdict on Aubameyang,” writes Admir Pajic. “He scores goals but doesn’t contribute in the general play so his teams do get better once he leaves as long, as he gets replaced with a player who contributes more (Jesus, Lewa).”
52 min Fred has gone into the centre of midfield, with Fernandes playing from the left.
51 min: United substitution Sancho, who has been extremely disappointing, overhits a simple pass to Shaw. It’s his last touch: Fred replaces him.
50 min United, who are no longer controlling the midfield, are readying Fred to come on. Nothing comes of the Chelsea corner.
49 min Loftus-Cheek’s long-range shot deflects off Martinez for a Chelsea corner.
48 min Chelsea have started the second half on the front foot, although Kepa has to come out of his area to intercept a through ball towards Antony.
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46 min Peep peep! Chelsea begin the second half.
Half-time reading
This is all kinds of happiness.
Half time: Chelsea 0-0 Man Utd
Peep peep! Not much goalmouth action but it was an interesting half at Stamford Bridge. United were quietly dominant for 35 minutes, prompting Graham Potter to make a tactical substitution, and Chelsea came into the game after that. United had the best chances, though: Rashford was twice denied by Kepa, and Antony shot just wide on the stroke of half-time.
45 min: Great chance for Antony! United should be ahead. Fernandes holds off Jorginho 30 yards from goal and plays a good angled pass to Antony. He takes it nicely in his stride, away from Thiago, but pings a shot this far wide with his right foot.
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44 min “Some superpower Aubameyang has,” says Yash Gupta, “every team looked worse with him this year.”
That’s a bit harsh on a man who scored a Clasico hat-trick. But as you’re a Spurs fan, I’ll allow it.
43 min It’s a much more even game now; if anything, Chelsea are on top. Mount’s cutback from the right finds Sterling in the area. He takes a touch and pokes it across to Aubameyang, who is distracted by the sliding Dalot and fails to control the ball. That was a decent chance.
41 min Chilwell floats a cross towards the unmarked Aubameyang, who tries to control it in mid-air, 10 yards from goal, when it would surely have been better to throw himself into a diving header. It was a difficult ball to control and he could only knock it through to de Gea.
40 min Erik ten Hag is playing with a tactics board on the bench. Meanwhile Eriksen, who scored an outrageous goal here a few years ago, cracks another long-range shot wide of the near post. Kepa had it covered.
39 min Chelsea already look better. Kovacic’s pass towards Sterling is intercepted and deflects towards Aubameyang, who steers a volley wide from the edge of the area. In fact, Chelsea’s shape isn’t 4-1-4-1, it’s a diamond with Mount playing behind Aubameyang and Sterling.
37 min Mount and Martinez have a bit of a row, prompting Shaw to come across and usher Mount away.
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36 min: Chelsea substitution Kovacic replaces Marc Cucurella, which means Chelsea can match United’s 4-1-4-1 formation. Cucurella accepted the decision without complaint.
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35 min Graham Potter is planning an early tactical substitution, with Mateo Kovacic preparing to come on.
34 min Sancho’s deflected drive from the edge of the area is well held by Kepa, who had to change direction and plunge to his left. It’s all United.
33 min Rashford runs at a backpedalling Chelsea defence, gets into the area and rifles a drive that is beaten away by Kepa, diving low to his right. That’s a decent save.
31 min Antony is booked for flattening Jorginho.
29 min Shaw is lucky not to be booked for delaying a Chelsea throw-in.
28 min: Good save by Kepa! That’s a much more significant save. Fernandes snapped a fine first-time through pass to Rashford in the area. His first touch was slightly heavy, which allowed Kepa to rush out and block Rashford’s attempted dink.
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27 min Though United have been much the better team, Kepa has only had one relatively comfortable save to make. They really miss Anthony Martial.
26 min Antony overhits a lofted pass that is going out for a goalkick until Kepa inexplicably helps it behind for a corner. United take it short again, and do bugger all with it again.
25 min After a good run down the left from Rashford, Sancho wins a corner off Chalobah. United take it short, and do bugger all with it.
24 min Rashford’s free-kick hits Jorginho and ricochets to safety.
23 min Antony buys a foul 25 yards from goal, to the right of centre. Eriksen and Rashford are over the ball…
20 min United have had 60 per cent of the possession and the only shot on target. It’s all a bit cagey out there.
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17 min United are really dominating the middle of the pitch, where they have three players to Chelsea’s two. Graham Potter might think about pulling Mount into midfield for a while.
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15 min Nothing comes of the corner.
14 min Mount’s lovely cross towards Aubameyang is crucially intercepted by Varane, sliding towards his own goal. Corner to Chelsea, their first of the game…
13 min The corner is taken short to Sancho, whose cross flashes across the face of goal and behind.
13 min After another good move from United, Antony curls a decent shot from 20 yards that is pushed round by the sprawling Azpilicueta. It might not have been going in anyway.
12 min A decent spell of possession for United, with Casemiro seeing plenty of the ball.
10 min Azpilicueta is down after an accidental clash of heads with Sancho. I think he’s fine.
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9 min Good play from United. After a series of first-time passes from Casemiro, Fernandes and Eriksen, Shaw is released on the left-hand side. He runs to the edge of the area and drives a cross shot that goes a few yards wide of the far post.
7 min Loftus-Cheek wins a header in midfield and releases Aubameyang on the left. He runs at Martinez but overhits a cross towards Sterling.
7 min “Looking forward to this one,” says Tom Stratford. “Interested to see how Graham Potter navigates that notoriously tricky 44th day in a new job.”
They can always go back to Thomas Tuchel if he does quit.
6 min United’s formation looks more like a 4-1-4-1 than 4-2-3-1, with Eriksen playing further forward than he has in recent games.
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6 min See 4 min.
5 min “The TV and press will continue to bring up the Ronaldo question,” says Mary Waltz. “Understandable, it draws eyeballs, responses, and clicks. But ten Hag will continue to ignore it. Ronaldo would be an incredible super sub and occasional starter for any contender. But he will never accept that role. EtH is doing the right thing. Downplaying the controversy until CR7 leaves the club.”
Yes, I think he’s handled it almost flawlessly.
4 min A quiet start to the game. Sterling was wrongly flagged offside when he broke away down the left; that’s about it.
2 min Chelsea are playing as expected, with Cucurella as the left-sided centre-back.
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2 min “Interesting about the rivalry that never quite exploded,” says Digvijay Yadav. “I always thought that the 2006-10 period was as intense as any. In fact the ‘06-‘07 was the most cathartic title win since Fergie’s first. And that was partly a result of the fear that Chelsea had sowed in the league and the loathing that inspired in United. Or maybe that’s just me.”
I know what you mean, and the standard was seriously high around then. But to me it never had the same intensity and enmity as United v Arsenal or Chelsea v Liverpool.
1 min Peep peep! Manchester United kick off from left to right as we watch.
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More pre-match reading
“Astounding how Roy Keane, while saying gentle and emollient things about Cristiano Ronaldo, manages to look extremely threatening,” writes Charles Antaki. “It’s the hooded eyes, I think, plus 100 years of suppressed, and not-so suppressed, on-field violence.”
And the beard. Nobody wears a statement beard quite like Roy Keane.
Roy Keane on Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence
🗣️ "Players have done a lot worse at Manchester United"
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 22, 2022
Roy Keane has his say on Cristiano Ronaldo 💬 pic.twitter.com/g83MOjWnvA
It’s interesting that, when Paul Scholes refused to play against Arsenal in 2001, Sir Alex Ferguson still started him in the next game.
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Jonathan Liew on the absent Cristiano Ronaldo
Graham Potter makes four changes to the Chelsea side that drew at Brentford. Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell, Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang replace Kalidou Koulibaly, who has a knee injury, Conor Gallagher, Kai Havertz and Armando Broja.
One change for United: Fred out, Christian Eriksen in.
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Team news
Chelsea (possible 3-4-2-1) Arrizabalaga; Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Cucurella; Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Chilwell; Mount, Sterling; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Mendy, Kovacic, Pulisic, Zakaria, Ziyech, Gallagher, Havertz, Chukwuemeka, Broja.
Man Utd (4-2-3-1) de Gea; Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Eriksen; Antony, Fernandes, Sancho; Rashford.
Substitutes: Heaton, Lindelof, Malacia, Fred, Pellistri, McTominay, Garnacho, Iqbal, Elanga.
Referee Stuart Attwell.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Chelsea v Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. This is a slightly unusual rivalry, which has never fully exploded despite a number of title deciders and even a Champions League final. The status of today’s game is best reflected by the fact the winners will end the day in fourth place. That’s the prime ambition for both clubs this season, particularly United, but there is unlikely to be room at the Champions League table for both of them.
Still, the two teams look in reasonable shape under their new managers. Chelsea are unbeaten under Graham Potter, even if their last two performances weren’t the best. Those games were away from home; at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have looked formidable. United have been up and down, but looked like a proper Erik ten Hag team for the first time when they overwhelmed Spurs on Wednesday. If they do it again at Stamford Bridge, where they have won only twice in the league in the last 20 years, United fans will have good reason to be excited.
Kick off 5.30pm.
