Chelsea inflict more misery on United with a decisive win

Chelsea put struggling Manchester United away with a decisive 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge, putting more pressure on United manager Michael Carrick.

The Blues were clinical this time, after failing to beat London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the league and Liverpool in the Carabao Cup midweek. They bowed out of the competition without making the last eight.

They came up against a struggling Carrick side, who had not won in the Premier League in the last eight games, but made sure they made amends by getting a win in front of their fans.

Xabi Alonso’s side started the second half with a lot of confidence, with Brazilian wonderkid Estevao causing problems down the right and firing the tense game’s first shot wide.

He did have the ball at the back of the net around the quarter-hour mark, but his rebound from a Pedro Neto shot was dismissed for offside.

Just five minutes into the second half, Romeo Lavia released Morgan Rogers, who drove forward before finding the net to open the scoring.

In fine form, Rogers made no mistake, chipping the ball over the onrushing United goalkeeper, Senne Lammens, to give his side a 1-0 lead.

United’s problems worsened when Lisandro Martinez was sent off for a second yellow card after catching Chelsea’s Wesley Fofana in the face with his elbow at a corner.

The 28-year-old was sent home with United left to play with 10 men for the next 27 minutes to conjure a draw or a win with a man down.

A VAR review called the referee to have an on-field review, which ended with Alonso’s men being awarded a penalty.

Cole Palmer made no mistake, but slotted home Chelsea’s second goal of the day to make it 2-0 in the 64th minute to put the game out of reach for Carrick’s side.

Although that was not Palmer’s best penalty take, United goalkeeper Senne Lammens could only push it into the back of his own net.

An important win for Chelsea, especially after two successive defeats, but for United, more misery was piled on Carrick’s tenure at the Old Trafford dugout since the start of the season.

More questions than answers to be given by the struggling United boss.