Chelsea steam-rolled in the rain after early red for Sanchez, almost bite back for draw against jittery Man U

There'll be grey skies over...a familiar scene at Old Trafford : Picture by @YTJourno

Premier League

Man United (2) 2 Fernandes 14, Casemiro 19 Casemiro s/o 45+5

Chelsea (0) 1 Chalobah 80 Sanchez s/o 4

Four minutes. That's all it took for Chelsea's afternoon to seemingly unravel.

Yet in a game with a crazy narrative arc, the Blues fought back from being reduced to 10 men and 2-0 down at the break to almost grab the unlikeliest of draws.

The last thing they needed after a challenging week which included that trip to Munich for a Champions League match was to have to start chasing around a man short. But that was their lot.

When Benjamin Sesko nodded on for Bryan Mbeumo, Robert Sanchez raced out and felled the ex-Brentford striker and ref Peter Bankes had an easy decision to make - even if replays suggested the keeper got a slight touch on the ball.

The red card waved at Sanchez forced Enzo Maresca to sacrifice Estevao to allow Filip Jorgensen to deputise in goal and the defensive shield now thought necessary saw Pedro Neto make way for Tosin. Pre-match plans featuring an attacking line-up torn up in a matter of moments.

But events would later suggest the Blues boss jumped the gun by withdrawing creative attackers as United would be reduced to 10 men themelves for the final quarter of the game.

United - thrashed 3-0 in the Manchester derby a week ago they may have been, now had the chance to really cash in on a week of inactivity ahead of the game in sharp contrast to the Blues.

And Ruben Amorim's team indeed soon led. When Noussair Mazraoui crossed in from the right, Patrick Dorgu nodded forward and Bruno Fernandes timed his run just right to slide in from close range. A VAR check ruled out an offside.

Another sign this day in the relentless pouring Manchester rain was not going to work out for the hitherto unbeaten Blues came soon after when Cole Palmer was taken off in favour of Andrey Santos - looking pretty disenchanted as he threw off his gloves on leaving the field. Home fans delighted in seeing the ex-Man City man looking so disenchanted.

It looked already as though Maresca was almost giving this one up.

The game looked done and dusted before the break. Reece James' attempted clearance flew into the air and after Luke Shaw leapt up to nod back across goal, Casemiro stole in at the far post to nod down past Jorgensen.

A dire first half ended with at least one crumb of comfort, when the Brazilian was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Santos - thus evening up the numbers - but the Blues had simply not got forward enough to suggest they might get back into the game.

With the torrential rain causing surface water to accumulate after the interval, the ball was stopping too much to allow for slick passing and that route back seemed even further away.

Wesley Fofana did have the ball in the back of the net after reacting to Tosin's near-post flick-on at a corner, but the defender was offside and there were more yellow cards than moments of danger being created. Trevoh Chalobah, Enzo Fernandez, Tyrique George and Tosin all joined Marc Cucurella in the book during the second half.

The game was not quite done yet, though and when James hoisted a cross up to the far post, Chalabah was left unopposed to head past a statuesque Altay Bayindir to make it 2-1.

The Blues had plenty of the ball in the closing stages, without quite fashioning that big chance they craved and arguably Fernandes came closest to scoring late on for United as Jorgensen's save kept the Blues in the game for seven nervy minutes of injury time.

United: (3-4-2-1) Bayindir - Mazraoui (Cunha 65), de Ligt, Maguire (Yoro 69) - Dorgu, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes (Mainoo 87), Shaw - Mbeumo (Mount 69), Diallo - Sesko (Ugarte h/t)

Blues: (4-2-3-1) Sanchez - James, Chalobah, Fofana (George 66), Cucurella (Gusto 66) - Fernandez, Caicedo - Estevao (Jorgensen 6), Palmer (Santos 21), Pedro Neto (Tosin 6) - Joao Pedro