Manchester United 2 Chelsea 1 – Amorim’s side hold on after red cards for Sanchez, Casemiro

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Manchester United beat Chelsea 2-1, taking advantage of an early Robert Sanchez red card and recording their second win of the Premier League season.

A long ball from goalkeeper Altay Bayindir saw Benjamin Sesko flick a header into the path of Bryan Mbeumo, who knocked the ball past Sanchez and was taken down.

Bruno Fernandes scored his 100th goal for the club less than 10 minutes later before Casemiro headed home United’s second. Chelsea were forced into making three substitutions before 21 minutes were up, with Cole Palmer seemingly succumbing to a groin problem.

United were comfortable until Casemiro needlessly brought down Andrey Santos for a second yellow card. With the numbers even, Chelsea pressed for a goal and Trevoh Chalobah duly obliged from a header with 10 minutes left. However, Ruben Amorim’s side held on to rise to ninth in the Premier League, with Chelsea in sixth.

Here, our writers break down the key moments from the game.

Sanchez’s red card: how it changed the game (for a while)

Manchester United were playing well in the rain over the first few minutes. Then came the incident that changed the face of the match.

First, Bayindir decides to go direct, hitting the ball long, targeting Sesko…

The Slovenian wins his aerial duel against Chalobah. You can see in the image below Mbeumo running just ahead and close to his United team-mate.

Sesko heads the ball goalwards and onto the on-running Mbeumo, who positions himself well between the two Chelsea defenders. 

Sanchez sprints out from his penalty box, but Mbeumo takes a vital touch before the goalkeeper wipes him out and is shown a straight red card. No complaints about that — Sanchez knew he would have to win the ball.


Robert Sanchez fouls Bryan Mbeumo (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

With a man down, Maresca activated defensive mode. He took off both Chelsea wingers, Pedro Neto and Estevao, and brought on goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen and defender Tosin Adarabioyo. Without the ball, Chelsea retreated to a back five with three centre-backs and two wing-backs.

United took advantage of their extra player. Fernandes pushed up higher, as did Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt, forcing Chelsea’s 5-3-1 block deeper. United became even more aggressive, especially man to man, and were rewarded when Fernandes poked home for the opener. 

(For readers in the United States)

It seemed as though United had control of the game — but Casemiro had other plans.

Charlotte Harpur

Chelsea’s shocking start

Nothing sums up Chelsea’s bad opening spell more than them setting a Premier League first by making three substitutions in the first 21 minutes.

From the outset, Enzo Maresca’s side did not look ready for a fired-up Manchester United team, nor the miserable wet weather.

Even before Sanchez was sent off, they were struggling to hang on. Sanchez had already stopped Mbeumo’s header and Reece James had made a great last-ditch tackle on Patrick Dorgu.

Maresca looked rattled, too. With Sanchez dismissed, he obviously had to make one change to bring on backup ‘keeper Jorgensen. Given his lack of Premier League experience, perhaps it was not a surprise that Estevao was the one chosen to make way.

Playing with a man down, you need someone with pace to provide an outball and give your opponents something to still worry about behind their defence. Without winger Neto, sacrificed for centre-back Tosin, Chelsea lacked an outlet.

The third change took place with the team deservedly 1-0 down after more poor defending. Chelsea appeared to have no choice, with Palmer going straight down the tunnel to get treatment as Santos was introduced.

Palmer missed two games and England duty with a groin problem and appeared to suffer some discomfort in that area late on against Bayern Munich in midweek. Maresca said he was fine before the game, but if he did take a risk, it backfired.

The farcical nature of United’s second, which included a Reece James kick into the clouds with no Chelsea player making much of an effort to win the header, capped as bad a first-half showing that has ever taken place under Maresca.

Maresca’s No 1 problem?

Just when Sanchez was starting to win a few of the critics over, he does something silly to make people question his status as Chelsea’s No 1 all over again.

Sanchez had been going through one of his better periods since joining from Brighton for £25million ($34m) in 2023. There was a superb performance against Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final. Even over the past week, he has been one of Chelsea’s better players with fine stops against Brentford and Bayern Munich.


Robert Sanchez’s red card interrupted a good run of form (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

But the issue with Sanchez is not his shot-stopping, it’s his decision-making. He gets the basics wrong too often for him to be considered a ‘keeper of the highest calibre.

All of that was on display at United as he delayed for a split second and then rushed out recklessly to bring down Mbeumo.

The Chelsea defenders in front of him have to share some of the blame, but Chelsea would have been better off if he had pulled out of the challenge, negating the risk of a red card. Even if Mbeumo had scored, at least Maresca’s side would not have been severely hindered by playing with 10 men after just five minutes.

Chelsea decided against signing another goalkeeper in the summer. This included ending interest in Milan’s Mike Maignan. Many of the club’s fans were not happy about it at the time and that choice will come under fresh scrutiny.

Simon Johnson

A win for United but concerns linger

“Now is the time for action, not words,” Amorim said in his pre-match programme notes. The Portuguese head coach has repeatedly said, “We just need to win games.”

United just about got the job done.  

They finally got the rub of the green when Sanchez was sent off. That was the ignition moment, a perfect opportunity to further wound their opponents.

United’s two goals put them into a commanding position before Casemiro’s second yellow card put them in a pickle. You would expect better from such an experienced player.

Sesko’s crucial flick was promising but we are yet to see him in full flow, given he was taken off at half-time to compensate for United being a player down.  

When Sir Jim Ratcliffe met with Amorim on Thursday, United’s co-owner, who was at Old Trafford on Saturday, reinforced how this is Amorim’s first full season in charge and a long-term project. 

If United had lost this game, serious questions would have been asked once again. It was not pretty but United have now won back-to-back home games in the Premier League under the same manager for the first time since December 2023.

However, it will take more than this win to wipe away ongoing concerns. They were only on top when they had an extra player. United have not won a league game since March (3-0 against Leicester City) without the benefit of scoring a penalty or an opponent’s red card. Even when they seemed to be in control, they let Chelsea back in, conceding from another set piece, resulting in a very nervy ending.

Amorim said in his pre-match press conference that he hopes he has time to show an evolution. This win has offered a modicum of breathing space. 

Charlotte Harpur

What did Amorim say?

On the importance of the win: “It was really important, I think we deserved it, but we complicated our plays every time. I think we started the game really well, really well in terms of the pressure and to push the opponent and to show that we were there, even to bring our fans with us. Of course, the send-off of the goalkeeper helped us a lot, but we were in control, we scored two goals.”

On what the nature of that performance says about the players’ desire to win for him: “I think they show that, but we also show that when everything is going well, we arrange something to make it difficult. But again, just the way we started the game, first ball, second ball. I remember when we scored the first one, we had many situations, three against one, three against two. Goalkeeper outside of the box, in the last pass, we were not being perfect in that moment. That can help us a lot to control the games and to win games, but we suffered together in the end. That was a good thing, if you look at the game we deserved to win.”

On complicating things, and if it shows the pressure the players are feeling: “It’s hard to say, because that is the pressure. The guy (Casemiro) has five Champions League (titles). I feel more pressure in some young guys sometimes. But maybe it’s because Casemiro cares. We score one and he has that tackle. And then they had maybe one time that they passed half of the pitch and we want to win the ball right away. So I think sometimes it’s not the pressure, they wanted too much in that moment. That is not a bad thing.”

What did Maresca say?

On the way the game turned on red cards: “For me personally, it’s quite easy in terms of after three-four minutes, it was rough for the way the red card became difficult not only for Chelsea, it became difficult for any club. For sure we could have started the game better, then the (second) red card gave us the chance to come back in the game. We had two or three moments inside the box [in the second-half], but all the game changed after the red card, all the planning and everything, it doesn’t exist anymore.”

On the two subs after Sanchez’s red card: “The reason why we changed Pedro [Neto] and Estevao [Willian] was because they attack with the five players always, and we defend with the four, and we can defend with the four when we are 11 vs 11, but 11 against them, I think we need to defend on the width, so we decided to go with the back five, this is the reason why.”

On Palmer’s injury: “Cole he tried this morning. He had a test to play this game, he was not 100 per cent fit. He made a fantastic effort to play this game but he was not 100 per cent.” (Full quotes here).

On if he would have preferred Sanchez to concede rather than be sent off: “It’s the best solution, because we are still 95 minutes to play, I think even Robert is aware of that, but also it’s difficult because he has to take a decision in one second or two seconds, so it’s difficult. But if you ask me, I prefer to be one goal down after three minutes than one player down after three minutes.”

What next for United?

Saturday, September 27: Brentford (Away), Premier League, 12.30pm UK, 7.30am ET

What next for Chelsea?

Tuesday, September 23: Lincoln City (Away), Carabao Cup third round, 7.45pm UK, 2.45pm ET

Saturday, September 27: Brighton & Hove Albion (Home), Premier League, 3pm UK, 10am ET

(Top photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)




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