Terrible Chelsea are thrashed by United
Chelsea were thrashed in their penultimate match of a dismal season – their eighth defeat in their 10 matches since Frank Lampard returned as interim boss.
Goals from Casemiro and Anthony Martial put Manchester United in control at Old Trafford, where Bruno Fernandes’ netted a second-half penalty and Marcus Rashford scored the fourth.
Joao Felix scored a last-minute consolation for Lampard’s side.
The dire defending which has been a feature of Chelsea’s campaign was evident again.
They went behind in the sixth minute when Casemiro was allowed to glance home Christian Eriksen’s free-kick.
And on the stroke of half-time, the visitors were all over the place at the back as Casemiro found Jadon Sancho, who teed up Martial for a simple tap-in.
Chelsea’s shortcomings at the other end of the pitch were also on show again – both United’s first-half goals came shortly after their opponents squandered glorious chances.
Mykhailo Mudryk missed a sitter just before the opener, woefully failing to hit the target after being set up by Lewis Hall’s low cross.
And just before they went further behind, Chelsea should have equalised but Conor Gallagher dragged a shot wide after United were opened up by Enzo Fernandez’s pass.
Chelsea rarely looked like coming back from the second goal – and almost conceded a third a couple of minutes after the interval when Fernandes fired against the angle of post and bar.
As United continued to have the upper hand, keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga produced a fine save to deny Eriksen at point-blank range.
But Kepa was unable to keep out Fernandes’ ice-cool penalty after the Portuguese had been tripped by Wesley Fofana.
The fourth came after another Chelsea defensive aberration – and another error by Fofana, who gave the ball away in attempting a pass to Trevoh Chalobah.
Fernandes nipped in and played the ball to Rashford, who went past the beleaguered Fofana and scored at the second attempt after his first effort had been stopped by Kepa.
United’s win clinched their Champions League place for next season. Chelsea, 12th in the Premier League table, are 29 points behind them.
Felix did score a lovely goal, striding towards the edge of the penalty area and sending an unstoppable shot beyond keeper David de Gea.
Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Chalobah, W Fofana, Hall, Gallagher (D Fofana 82), Fernandez, Chukwuemeka, Madueke (Ziyech 82), Mudryk (Felix 64), Havertz (Pulisic 64).
Subs not used: Mendy, Silva, Loftus-Cheek, Koulibaly, Gilchrist.
28/05/2023 @ 4:26 pm
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