Chelsea’s poor defending was punished in a miserable start to Frank Lampard’s reign as manager.
They dominated much of the first half at Old Trafford, hitting the woodwork twice, but a clumsy challenge by Kurt Zouma led to Marcus Rashford putting Manchester United ahead with an 18th-minute penalty.
Two goals in as many second-half minutes meant there was no way back for the Blues – and Daniel James rubbed salt into their wounds by netting a late fourth.
Chelsea were on top before Zouma brought down Rashford, who directed the resulting spot-kick past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
And the visitors were later undone twice in quick succession by United counter-attacks.
Anthony Martial got in front of Cesar Azpilicueta to meet Andreas Pereira’s low cross and score from close range.
Azpilicueta then allowed Rashford to drift away from him to collect Paul Pogba’s ball over the top and slot home the forward’s second and United’s third.
James, on as a substitute for his United debut, calmly fired into the bottom corner after being teed up by Pogba with nine minutes remaining.
Tammy Abraham had almost given Lampard a dream start.
The striker, given a chance by Lampard to establish himself as a Blues first-team player, fired against the post from the edge of the penalty area after just four minutes.
With N’Golo Kante, who has been recovering from a knee problem, on the bench, young midfielder Mason Mount was also given a starting place by the new boss and had an early strike saved by keeper David De Gea.
The signs were very encouraging for Chelsea early on but a mistake Zouma – another player given a chance by Lampard – almost led to a United goal before another error did prove costly.
Zouma’s ball across the face of his own box, intended for Jorginho, drifted straight to Martial, who shot straight at keeper Kepa.
It was a fortunate escape for the centre-back, whose luck ran out after his daft foul on Rashford.
Chelsea hit the woodwork for the second time when Emerson blasted against the bar from near the left-hand edge of the six-yard box five minutes before the interval.
An equaliser at that stage might have changed the course of the match, but Chelsea ran out of ideas in the second half and United emphatically took control.
Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, Emerson, Jorginho (Kante 73), Barkley (Pulisic 58), Kovacic, Mount, Pedro, Abraham (Giroud 69).
Subs not used: Caballero, Alonso, Kenedy, Tomori.
This post was last modified on 12/08/2019
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Now lampard knows better. He's given David Luis his last laugh. There's no plausible explanation for selling your most experienced defender when you're not in a position to replace. It's a shame that chelsea has it's worst start in living memory. The team played well but lacked the experience to earn a result. It's all Frank Lampards fault.