Predicted ugly and ugly it was. United scraped past a Chelsea side that honestly deserved more from the game and I will not sit here and pretend otherwise just because United won.
Chelsea were better. Simple as that. They had twenty shots, United had four. They had the ball, they had the chances, some of them were really close too, and if their forwards were anywhere near clinical this would have been a loss. But they were not and United nicked it. That is football sometimes.
Both teams managed one shot on target each by the way. One each. In a Premier League game. Let that sink in.
Cunha scored and honestly he has been one of the few bright spots in this United side recently. The man does not stop running, does not stop pressing, does not give defenders a second to breathe. On a night where a lot of United players looked like they were still on their holidays he was the one who showed up when it mattered. Bruno got the assist which will keep his numbers ticking along nicely. Mainoo was solid, quietly went about his business without any fuss which is all you can ask on a night like this.
Mbeumo still looks like he is finding his feet. Sesko was there, just about. Garnacho was not good, I think most people watching could see that, and given that Chelsea do not seem to want him and apparently not many clubs are exactly rushing to sign him either, with only some clubs in Argentina said to be interested according to reports, it was not the statement performance he probably needed.
United were missing Martinez, Maguire and Yoro and it showed. The backline looked nervous all night and Chelsea should have made them pay. Chelsea also missed Reece James and you could see the difference his quality would have made going forward.
Now I know this is going to sound like a tangent and it is a little bit but stick with me here. Both these clubs are nowhere near Arsenal and City right now. Nowhere near. And Liverpool, I know I know, but Liverpool before Slot came in and took apart everything Klopp built, every bit of the identity and the DNA of that team, you could have put them in that conversation too. Now they look lost. So yeah it is Arsenal and City and then a pretty big gap and then everyone else including these two.
Chelsea spent a fortune by the way. A genuine fortune. And wasted a lot of it. Though I will give them this, they know how to sell. Mount, Madueke, Havertz, they moved them all on and got decent money. They will be back. Right now though they are a mess and so are United if we are being totally straight about it.
Three points. Champions League is still in sight. Carrick got the result but if he wants the job full time he is going to need to show a lot more than this because there are still plenty of people not convinced and nights like this do not exactly change minds.