This should have been the afternoon Manchester United
breathed new life into their pursuit of the top four. Stamford Bridge
may not be as impregnable as it once was, but victory would have edged
the visitors within four points of the bottleneck beneath Leicester
City, offering Louis van Gaal some respite amid all that familiar
discord and doubt. He would not admit it, but to inflict defeat on a
team who had started the campaign under José Mourinho, a friend who
apparently now covets his job, might have provided added satisfaction.
Instead, as the Dutchman berated the fourth official in the mouth of
the tunnel at the end, then echoed his complaints through his post-match
quotes at the referee’s eagerness to blow his whistle and choke a
United counterattack at the end of each half, it was hard to escape an
underlying sense of deflation.
As bright as United had been at times, at the start of the second
period in particular, when a goal of real pedigree had eventually forced
them ahead, they were also damagingly wasteful. Aside from profligacy,
the concession to Diego Costa in added time was born of the substitute
Memphis Depay’s weak surrender of possession at the other end of the
pitch. Just as at Newcastle United last month, points had been frittered away. “To have conceded so late makes it feel like a defeat,” said Jesse Lingard.
This game should have been theirs, for all that Chelsea
summoned a response in the final quarter in pursuit of an equaliser.
David de Gea had done well to deny Branislav Ivanovic on the volley,
then turn aside Cesc Fàbregas’s crunched shot towards the near post.
When Costa rose to nod over as the fourth official’s board was raised,
it felt as if the hosts’ opportunities had been and gone.
Instead, Depay carelessly handed the home side another opportunity to
spring upfield, the forward perhaps undecided whether to make for the
corner and waste time or set up his fellow substitute Morgan
Schneiderlin with a potential sight of goal. Chelsea regained the ball
and, within seconds, Fàbregas was clipping a pass through the clutter of
bodies on the edge of the United penalty area with panic having set in.
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The
visitors had been unnerved by John Terry’s presence as a makeshift
forward, Daley Blind unsure just who he should be picking up only to
slip as he belatedly broke forward, thereby clearing a pathway through
which Fàbregas’s delivery duly squeezed. Cameron Borthwick-Jackson had
played Costa onside and slid in desperately to try and intercept, only
for his tackle to take the ball away from an on-rushing De Gea and
neatly into the striker’s path.
Costa collected and converted a seventh goal in nine appearances and
the champions had extended their unbeaten run to 11 matches. They are
also now on 30 points, 10 away from the traditional marker to avoid
relegation. Their own frustration was born of De Gea’s fine save to
thwart Costa in what time still remained and, more worryingly, a
potentially serious knee injury sustained by Kurt Zouma that will be
scanned on Monday.
Yet it was United who felt damaged. This had been one of their better
displays, a performance to maintain the promise of those wins over
Derby County and Stoke City even as all the uncertainty swirls over the
manager’s long-term future at the club.
Thibaut Courtois had denied Anthony Martial, thrillingly, and Wayne
Rooney, then Lingard at full stretch just as the visitors’ ascendancy
was growing before the hour-mark.
Unperturbed, Michael Carrick, Martial and the excellent Juan Mata
pinged their passes once again to liberate Borthwick-Jackson from
left-back. His centre was touched on by Rooney with the ball falling to
Lingard, 12 yards out and with the 23-year-old’s back to goal. There was
a touch, a spin and a fine rising shot on the turn which careered into
the top corner before César Azpilicueta could summon a block.
Chelsea have found themselves in arrears too often on home territory,
and a fifth defeat here loomed large. Their own attacking play had been
generated in fits and starts, a flurry midway through the opening
period when Costa and Oscar had found their range, and a wild penalty
appeal in first-half stoppage time as John Terry’s shot struck Blind on
the left elbow as he sprung out to intercept.
Zouma’s absence had disrupted their approach, the Frenchman having
leapt to hack a loose ball upfield only for his right leg to buckle
grotesquely on landing. He was taken off on a stretcher, distraught and
clearly in agony. “It’s very bad when you land with a hyper-extension of
your leg, very bad,” said Guus Hiddink before drumming his finger on
the wooden desk. “Touch wood [it will not be the end of Zouma’s season]
but, tomorrow, we’ll know more.”
They had still been reorganising when Lingard forced the visitors
ahead, with Terry then pushed forward to bolster the attack with the
game creeping away from Chelsea’s reach. Costa’s finish earned them a
point, though those already faint hopes of making Europe through their
league position are fading with each drawn match.
“We are unbeaten [since Mourinho’s departure in December] but, if you
want to get into fourth place, you have to make victories,” added
Hiddink. “We have had too many draws to get to fourth place. So it’s
difficult.”
That sounded like an understatement given United are six points off
fourth place and still feel like outsiders in the pursuit of Champions
League qualification. Man of the match David de Gea (Manchester United)
copy http://www.theguardian.com/football/
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