Chelsea Beat 10-Man Man Utd 2-0 After Martinez Red Card

Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-0 on Saturday. Morgan Rogers scored early in the second half, and Cole Palmer added a penalty after United's Lisandro Martínez was sent off. The win moved Chelsea into fourth place.

It was United's seventh defeat in 13 games. Michael Carrick is still in charge. United are due to face Roma on Tuesday.

United had the better of the first 45 minutes and the better chances. Andrey Santos, who left Chelsea for United last summer, shot just wide from 20 yards. Amad Diallo cut inside and forced two efforts on target.

Bruno Fernandes, back after talks with Carrick, fired over after a counterattack that began with a pass from Bryan Mbeumo. Mbeumo and Diallo both missed after mistakes by Wesley Fofana. A goal by Mateus Cunha was ruled out by the video assistant referee for offside.

Moisés Caicedo diverted a Fofana header against the woodwork, and Pedro Neto shot wide. Earlier, Senne Lammens had spilled a Neto shot and an offside Estêvão Willian tapped it in, but the goal did not count.

Rogers breaks through

Chelsea started the second half more assertively. Mbeumo turned into trouble in midfield, Caicedo blocked his path, and Roméo Lavia nicked the ball past Carlos Baleba. Rogers, signed for £117m, then ran through the middle and dinked the ball over Lammens for 1-0.

Martínez was already on a booking when he elbowed Fofana at a corner. Referee Peter Bankes reviewed the incident and sent him off. Palmer converted the resulting penalty to make it 2-0 against ten men.

The ending was similar to last week's defeat to Bournemouth. Carrick walked over to the United supporters at full-time and was applauded. They sang his name, then booed the players as they trudged towards them. In the away end, fans had earlier chanted against the club's owners, the Glazers, and questioned the credentials of director of football Jason Wilcox.

Alonso's selection

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso had faced criticism over his team selections after defeats to Tottenham in the league and Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. He gave Estêvão his first league start of the season. Estêvão played on the right flank and had been overlooked at Anfield.

With João Pedro injured, Alonso went with Neto rather than Danny Welbeck as the lead man in a 4-2-3-1 system. Jordan Henderson was ruled out by illness, and Chelsea were also without Maxence Lacroix in defence.

Source: the Guardian