Manchester United have snatched a dramatic late 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and here is a look at five things we learned from the game…
Ten Hag ruthless with his team selection
Erik ten Hag had already shown his ruthless side this week, dropping Cristiano Ronaldo from his squad for this game.
Fred performed well and scored the opener in the 2-0 win over Tottenham on Wednesday but he was dropped in place of the returning Christian Eriksen here.
The Dutchman showed once again he had no room for sentiment and correctly concluded he needed more quality and composure in midfield for this one.
He also only gave Jadon Sancho six minutes of the second half to improve his performance level before hauling him off for Fred.
Ten Hag forces Potter into early change
When Ten Hag’s 4-2-3-1 matched up with Graham Potter’s 3-4-2-1 system, United dominated the centre of the pitch and stopped Chelsea getting the ball to their spare men, their wing-backs.
They did that so successfully in the opening 35 minutes of the game that Potter made a change before the interval.
He brought on Mateo Kovacic for Marc Cucurella, going to a back four and scrapping his initial gameplan.
United fail to make first half dominance pay
United dominated possession for much of the first half but only created two really clear chances to show for it.
The angle narrowed swiftly when Marcus Rashford went through on goal and his attempt to chip the ball home was saved by Kepa.
The best chance of United’s half fell to Antony but on his weaker right foot, he could only slice the ball wide and ensure the teams went in goalless at the interval.
It felt at the time that United would pay the price for failing to make the most of their early dominance and so it proved, despite the late equaliser.
Varane suffers more injury woes
Injuries have dogged Raphael Varane’s time at United so far and he was forced off just before the hour mark with another one here.
The Frenchman reacted emotionally while going off, perhaps fearing that his involvement in the World Cup is now in jeopardy.
That would be a huge blow and United are clearly more defensively secure when the former Real Madrid man plays.
United never give up
United’s performance faded as the game wore on, with the passing getting casual and sloppy at times.
It looked as if United had settled for the draw when substitute Scott McTominay was penalised for holding in the penalty box at a corner.
Jorginho does not miss often from the spot and he made no mistake but United were not done there as they finally found some urgency to grab a dramatic late draw.
Luke Shaw’s deep cross was powerfully headed home by Casemiro, who netted his first goal for the club and sent the away fans into raptures.
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