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Ruben Amorim hopped around nervously on the touchline, drenched on a wet and wild night at Old Trafford. Behind him in the home dugout, captain Bruno Fernandes stood waving his arms in the air, urging his teammates to hang on.
Amorim had said before kick-off that not even the Pope could persuade him to change his tactics, but at that moment he would certainly have appreciated a little divine help.
We were into seven minutes of added time and a game in which everything seemed to be going right for United was suddenly in the balance.
It had all started so well. A kamikaze decision by Robert Sanchez that saw the Chelsea goalkeeper sent off inside four minutes. A hair’s breadth offside call that allowed Fernandes’ opening goal to stand. Cole Palmer off injured inside 20 minutes as Enzo Maresca was forced to send on three early substitutes.
But nothing is straightforward with United. Casemiro’s dismissal at the end of the first half after he had put United two goals in front evened up the numbers, and Trevor Chalobah pulled one back late on as the two teams of 10 men splashed around in the puddles.
Your mind drifted back to the comments Amorim made about his team on the eve of this game. ‘We are in a better place compared to last year but we need to win,’ he said on Friday. ‘In the end, if you don't win, it doesn’t matter. So I think it's something mental and we need to change.
Man United's 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Saturday night was a much needed one for Ruben Amorim
Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring for United and was instrumental in the victory
‘The teams that are winning have the feeling that something is going to happen. Sometimes, with us, I feel the opposite. We are playing well, but something is going to go wrong in some moments.’
So here we were again. United with their backs against the wall and Old Trafford fearing the worst. They had given up the lead to Fulham and Burnley twice, and now Chelsea were threatening to add a final twist to a game full of drama.
In the end, Amorim’s side held on and he will be mightily relieved that they did to ward off an early-season crisis that was threatening to engulf him as they handed Chelsea a second defeat of the week.
United would argue that they are due some good fortune this season. The feeling inside Old Trafford is that one win in the opening five games had not reflected the performances. In that sense, this was overdue.
They made a flying start and Sanchez was forced to palm away an early head from Bryan Mbeumo. The next encounter between the two players did not go quite as well for the Chelsea goalkeeper.
His United counterpart Altay Bayindir pumped a long ball upfield and Benjamin Sesko rose above Chalobah to flick on.
Mbeumo was away and in a split second Sanchez made the decision to race out of his goal. It was the wrong one. The Cameroon international lifted the ball past him and went down as Sanchez’s wild challenge on the edge of the D caught him on the left thigh.
After referee Peter Bankes awarded the free kick, a red card was a formality and the Spaniard was on his way. Maresca not only decided to replace Estevao with goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen but Pedro Neto with Tosin Adarabioyo as well.
Robert Sanchez was dismissed for a Kamikaze challenge on Bryan Mbuemo early on
Casemiro later put the Red Devils 2-0 up with a header nodded in from close range
The Brazilian was however dismissed on the brink of half time after picking up his second yellow card
A first United goal wasn’t far off, however. When Mbeumo crossed from the right in the 14th minute, Patrick Dorgu rose to head goalwards. It was all about the timing by Fernandes as he sprinted beyond Chalobah and lunged to poke home from close-range.
It was a close call and VAR official Craig Pawson took several minutes to conclude that the Chelsea defender’s right foot had played Fernandes onside.
As we waited for the outcome, Palmer ran over to the touchline to inform Maresca that he had a problem and shortly afterwards he was walking despondently towards the tunnel as Andrey Santos became Chelsea’s third substitute inside the opening 21 minutes – the fastest any team has made so many changes in a Premier League match.
We should have known then that we were unlikely to see Alejandro Garnacho who was named on the Chelsea bench again. The young Argentina winger was booed by the home fans on his return to Old Trafford when he warmed up beforehand, 21 days after leaving United in a £40million deal.
Everything seemed to be going against Chelsea and it got even worse in the 37th minute. A short corner was played to Noussair Mazraoui who swung a cross into the box where Dorgu kept it from going out of play.
Alejandro Garnacho was loudly booed by the home support on multiple occasions throughout the evening
Trevoh Chalobah got the Blues back in the game late on but it wasn't enough
Reece James’ wild swing at the ball sent it soaring into the leaden skies above Old Trafford, and Luke Shaw ran in to rise above a melee of players and head towards the back post where Casemiro had the simple task of nodding home.
It was the Brazilian’s last meaningful contribution to the game before he was sent off in the fifth of nine minutes added on at the end of the first half, picking up his second yellow card for wrestling Santos to the ground. It felt like a soft booking but a silly one too given that there was little threat to United.
Chelsea sensed there was a way back into this game and after Wesley Fofana had a goal ruled out for offside, Maresca’s side got the goal their second-half performance deserved in the 80th minute. James swung over a cross from the right and Chalobah rose to plant a header in the bottom corner.
Cue nerves all around Old Trafford, but Amorim’s players showed the mental fortitude he demanded to get the job done.
