Injury-plagued Chelsea beaten by United

Chelsea 0 Man Utd 2

Chelsea suffered another home defeat, further injury woes and a major blow in their pursuit of a top-four finish on a miserable night for Frank Lampard’s side.

N’Golo Kante went off early on at Stamford Bridge, where Anthony Martial put Manchester United ahead just before the interval and Harry Maguire scored midway through the second half.

Kante, sidelined by knee, ankle and hamstring problems this season, limped away from the action after 11 minutes.

It was a further blow for Chelsea, who were already without the injured Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

The Blues, with Michy Batshuayi up from and again with Willy Caballero in goal, made a strong start to the game, with Reece James and Willian both firing wide.

Abraham’s absence meant only a fifth Premier League start for Chelsea for Batshuayi and a huge chance for him to impress.

But the striker fluffed his lines when teed up by Mason Mount, poking the ball wide of the target, and failed to make any real impact before being replaced by Olivier Giroud just after United’s second goal.

Martial opened the scoring by heading Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s right-wing cross into the far corner of the net.

The Frenchman got in front of Andreas Christensen, who was no doubt still feeling the effects of a collision which had left him with a bloodied nose and led to the defender being substituted at half-time.

Christensen’s replacement, Kurt Zouma, thought he had equalised when he fired into the net following Willian’s corner, but the goal was disallowed after VAR showed a foul by Cesar Azpilicueta on Brandon Williams.

There was no doubt about Maguire’s thumping header from Bruno Fernandes’ corner.

But there was certainly doubt over whether the England defender ought to have been on the pitch when he scored – he was fortunate not to be sent off for kicking out at Batshuayi in the first half.

Chelsea’s misery was compounded when they had a second goal disallowed by VAR, this time after Giroud had strayed marginally offside before heading in James’ cross.

And Mount went close when his injury-time free-kick surprised keeper David De Gea and struck the near post.

The result – Chelsea’s fifth home defeat of the season – saw United move to within three points of the fourth-placed Blues, who remain just a point ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham ahead of Saturday’s derby against the north London side.

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