Key stats
- Manchester United v Chelsea is the first Premier League game to see both sides have a player sent off in the first half since Crystal Palace v Chelsea in October 2014
- Robert Sanchez's red card (04:01) is Chelsea's earliest ever red card in the Premier League
- Casemiro is the first Manchester United player to score and be sent off in the first half of a Premier League match, and the first overall in the competition since Emmanuel Adebayor for Tottenham against Arsenal in November 2012
Highlights
Analysis
Bruno Fernandes produced a tireless display in torrential conditions to lead Manchester United to a hard-fought victory.
Manchester United used Chelsea's early red card to dominate proceedings, but the visitors improved when both sides were reduced to 10 men.
Match report
As the rain poured over Old Trafford, Chelsea’s prospects were heavily dampened just five minutes into proceedings when Robert Sánchez rushed out of his goal and brought down Bryan Mbeumo after being beaten to Benjamin Šeško’s flick-on.
Enzo Maresca responded with a double change, but the pressure from the Red Devils was unrelenting and the shaken Blues went behind after 14 minutes, with Fernandes just about staying onside and turning Patrick Dorgu’s header past Filip Jörgensen for his 100th United goal.
Maresca continued to desperately fish for answers as he brought Cole Palmer off for Andrey Santos in the 21st minute.
However, just as it was starting to look as though those changes had helped Chelsea limit the damage caused in a torrid first half, the visitors failed to deal with the cross from a short corner routine and Luke Shaw kept the ball alive for Casemiro to head it home and compound their misery.
United were enjoying themselves so much that the nine minutes of added time were met with cheers, but Casemiro received a second yellow for fouling Santos in the fifth of those having needlessly been booked for a challenge on Enzo Fernández in the 17th minute.
Ruben Amorim reacted by bringing Šeško off for Manuel Ugarte ahead of a gritty start to the second half, with conditions adding some extra difficulty as water splashed up off the pitch.
Chelsea still tried to make things happen and momentarily thought they had a lifeline after the hour mark when Tosin Adarabioyo flicked Reece James’ corner towards Wesley Fofana, who was offside before heading the ball in.
The visitors eventually gained renewed hope with 10 minutes left, as James floated in a cross that Trevoh Chalobah rose unchallenged to head past Altay Bayındır.
Despite that goal making nerves set in across Old Trafford and Fernandes seeing his strike tipped wide, Ugarte blocked Santos’ late attempt as United saw out seven minutes of added time to secure a second win from their last three matches and offer Amorim some relief.
They also inflicted Chelsea’s first PL defeat of the season, while also leaving the Blues winless in their last three across all competitions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Matthijs de Ligt (Manchester United)
Post-match comments
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes to Sky Sports: "Every three points is massive and we go game by game, so the next game is massive as well.
"Every goal is important, doesn't matter the moment. Big moment for me to reach that milestone for a massive club, I won't hide from that. If I can get more goals to help the team, that's what matters the most."
Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah to Sky Sports: "We have to look at ourselves as players. It wasn't good enough for ourselves, for the club. The first 15 minutes is the worst we've played this season. We have to reflect on that as a team and learn from this.
"It's always difficult going down to 10 men and you can see that United were up for it. They put us under pressure. It wasn’t good enough at our end. We couldn’t get going in the first half.
"Things like this happen in the season. We can't say we’re kids anymore, we've played in the Premier League long enough now. We have just got to learn from this and move forward."