Chelsea stayed atop the Premier League table as they got a point to their tally following Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
The home side may have felt they deserved more than the draw given their overall dominance on the ball, but a Jadon Sancho goal for Manchester United made the afternoon that much more engaging. Jorginho would find the back of the net on a penalty to reach the 1-1 result.
Interim manager Michael Carrick named Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench for the match.
“A few tweaks and changes to freshen things up,” Carrick explained. Cristiano Ronaldo is your standout name [to be on the bench]. I have had a good chat with Cristiano and he was great.”
Chelsea are now just one point clear atop the standings as Manchester City got three points against West Ham on Sunday.
“We were brave and courageous,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said.
This was match No. 50 for Tuchel in charge of Chelsea in all competitions, and win No. 32 (with seven losses and 11 draws). Chelsea have kept 31 clean sheets in those 50 games, giving up only 24 goals.
“It can happen in football, unfortunately it happened twice to us, it also happened against Burnley. I am absolutely happy with the performance,” Tuchel said. “We dominated from the first minute, we were aggressive and never stopped attacking. Unfortunately we scored two goals, one for each side.”
Simply put, Chelsea absolutely dominated possessions. Forget the 66-34 battle of possession advantage; the Blues had 24 shots overall — 6 on goal — compared to just three shots overall for Man United.
“I don’t know if they ever created a chance or half chance to even score,” Tuchel said. “We gave them a goal today.”
Chelsea had 15 corners, compared to just two for United.
“It’s not about me, it’s about the players,” Carrick said, praising a side he may be managing for the last time.
Jadon Sancho scored his first Premier League goal, opening up the scoring in the 50th minute. Sancho is just the fifth Premier League goal scorer this season vs Chelsea, joining the likes of Mo Salah, Gabriel Jesus, Ward-Prowse, and Vydra.
Man of the Match honors went to United’s Scott McTominay who remains unbeaten in all eight career appearances vs Chelsea. He finished with 47 touches; completed 24-of-26 passes; engaged in 15 duels; won 4 tackles; secured 5 clearances; and recorded 1 block.
United will look to hopefully kick off the Ralf Rangnick era later this week vs Arsenal (Thursday, 2 December). Chelsea will look to stay in the top spot of the PL table on Wednesday vs Watford (1 December).
