CHELSEA 1, MANCHESTER UNITED 1
Chelsea salvaged another injury time draw at home when Diego Costa’s 91st minute equaliser cancelled out Jesse Lingard’s goal for Manchester United.
The game was played out at Stamford Bridge with the shadow of ex-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho hanging over the away dressing room after recent reports that United had been in touch with Mourinho for talks this week, stories which were dismissed by Louis van Gaal as an “invention”.
Van Gaal will surely have relished the idea of ending Dutch rival Guus Hiddink’s unbeaten record with Chelsea but was thwarted by the solid Blues defence despite continuing the more expansive United outlook that seemed to have started at Derby last week.
“It’s unbelieveable, we don’t reward ourselves.” said Van Gaal, with reference to United’s target of Champions League automatic qualification while avoiding the lottery of a play-off for finishing fourth.
A draw wasn’t enough to allow United to get much closer to Manchester City after their title rivals slipped to 4th place, following their defeat at home to league leaders Leicester City on Saturday.
“When your aim is to be third, second or first, you have to win because the gap is already big.”
Van Gaal, however, was also pleased with goalscorer Lingard’s goalscoring, saying: “It wasn’t his best performance today but I am happy.”
Both sides were unchanged from their midweek exploits but it was Louis Van Gaal’s side that shaded the early exchanges.
United had dominated the first half with plenty of ball possession married to the improved movement that has been seen since their FA Cup win at Derby County but they couldn’t make the breakthrough with Anthony Martial giving Thibaut Courtois an early examination.
In fact Chelsea clear opportunities and one chance in particular could have seen the home side win a penalty before half time.
John Terry’s injury time shot appeared to strike Daley Blind’s arm but no penalty was given.
United continued to dominate after the break with Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial wasting fine chances for the Reds and Jesse Lingard tested Courtois with a curling shot.
Chelsea suffered a double blow shortly after bringing on Eden Hazard for Oscar.
Kurt Zouma went down with a nasty knee injury after falling awkwardly trying to clear the ball but after lengthy treatment for the Chelsea defender, United promptly scored the goal that their first half play deserved.
Lingard controlled the ball, turned, and fired past Courtois shortly after the hour – his fourth goal of the season and his second in a week after scoring against Stoke – after a good cross by Cameron Borthwick-Jackson was laid off to him by Rooney.
Chelsea stepped up a gear after going behind and Branislav Ivanovic’s volley forced a fine save from David De Gea.
De Gea pushed away Cesc Fabregas’ shot as United tried to cling onto the lead but Chelsea finally breached the United defence when Fabregas laid on a superb pass for Diego Costa who rounded Borthwick-Jackson in injury time to level matters.
Costa could have won it even later in injury time but was denied by De Gea as Hiddink’s unbeaten record at Chelsea this season continued for a tenth game.