Manchester United survived a turbulent match against Chelsea, clinging to a 2-1 victory despite playing the second half with 10 men. The game was marked by two red cards, one for each side, creating a frantic and at times chaotic encounter at Old Trafford.
Chelsea's Robert Sanchez was the first to be sent off, just five minutes into the match, for a foul on Bryan Mbeumo outside the box. United quickly capitalized on their numerical advantage. Bruno Fernandes scored in the 14th minute, volleying home from close range after Patrick Dorgu headed the ball into his path. VAR took several minutes to confirm that Fernandes was onside. Casemiro then doubled United's lead in the 37th minute with a header.
However, the advantage was short-lived. In the first half stoppage time, Casemiro received his second yellow card for a foul on Chelsea substitute Andrey Santos, reducing United to 10 men as well. Alan Smith, on commentary for Sky Sports, noted that Casemiro's first yellow card was "silly" and that he "made life difficult" for himself. Smith added, "the tackle was okay, but he's been booked for putting two arms around his man". Former Manchester United forward Dimitar Berbatov criticized Casemiro's reaction to the second yellow, stating that he should have been "smarter" and "keep cool".
Despite being down a man, Manchester United managed to hold on to their lead for most of the second half. Chelsea, however, kept pushing and eventually Trevoh Chalobah pulled a goal back in the 80th minute with a header. Despite the late pressure, United weathered the storm to secure a vital win.
The victory eases some of the pressure on Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim, securing his first back-to-back Premier League home wins since taking charge. Manchester United now sit ninth in the Premier League with seven points from five games. Chelsea are in sixth place with eight points from five games.
Casemiro will be suspended for Manchester United's next match against Brentford. Robert Sánchez will be out for three games.
Manchester United's Luke Shaw said, "The most important thing was to win and get the three points. You could see how desperately we wanted to win in that first half. We defended really well". Amorim said that United "started the game really well… really aggressive". He added, "we cannot have the sending off near half-time… we like to complicate our games… in the end it was a good day".