Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United
by Layth Yousif at Stamford Bridge

CHELSEA and Manchester United played out an absorbing 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon in a match that saw Blues captain Jorginho earn redemption.

The Brazilian-born Italian international’s unforced second half error led to Jadon Sancho striding through to put caretaker Michael Carrick’s organised United side ahead five minutes after the interval.

Despite Thomas Tuchel’s side dominating the match, the visitors were compact and obdurate with a fluid 4-3-3 system that morphed into a 4-5-1 formation when out of possession, blunting the Blues’ wing-backs Reece James and Marcos Alonso who have been outstanding this season in a preferred 3-4-3 deployment.

The pivotal moment came when referee Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty after Aaron Wan-Bissaka fouled Thiago Silva, allowing Tuchel’s Blues a lifeline when the game exploded into life after the interval.

Despite his glaring mistake, Jorginho, the 29-year-old who captained Chelsea to the Champions League trophy last season and played his part in Italy winning the European Championships at Wembley this summer, displayed courage and character to slot home his penalty to level in a match which entertained and frustrated the 40,041 crowd in equal measure.

With all eyes on the former Napoli defender who joined Chelsea in 2018, Jorginho sent keeper David de Gea the wrong way to ensure the league leaders grabbed a point on 69 minutes to make it two draws and eight wins in their last 10 matches — when it appeared the Red Devils would emerge unlikely winners on a freezing day in West London.

“It’s hard to imagine this as a match where you can lose or drop points, because we were the better team who set the rhythm and intensity,” insisted Tuchel afterwards, adding: “We’re disappointed but we have no regrets, this can happen in football. I just told the team I’m happy with our performance and the way we played.”

Naturally Carrick had a different viewpoint, saying: “I don’t think it was a penalty at all. They have had a lot of shots. David had two saves, which we knew before the game he would have to make one or two. Other than that I have felt quite comfortable in the game. 

“To come away disappointed and to feel like you have left something out there is a positive.”