Rashford inspires Man United to a 4-0 victory over Lampard’s Chelsea
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Manchester United start the new season by beating Frank Lampard’s new-look Chelsea by 4 goals to nil. Marcus Rashford scored brace either side of the Anthony Martial’s goal and the new boy James grabbed a debut goal. Chelsea struck the post twice and the score line doesn’t reflect the true competition in the match.
Chelsea started the game brightly and had the chance to go ahead early with Tommy Abraham striking the post. Kurt Zouma had a horrid game and gave the ball inside his own box to Martial who squandered a fantastic chance. Kurt Zouma’s performance turned from bad to worse when he tripped Rashford inside his own box.
The penalty changed the complexion of the game as Rashford scored from the spot by smashing the ball past Kepa to the top left corner. United looked far more composed after scoring the first goal. Zouma fouled Perreira at the end of the first half, which earned him a yellow card.
Jorginho’s chipped ball to the far-post reached Emerson whose shot hit the post again and it looked like Chelsea were unlucky to go into the half-time break without a goal.
Chelsea had an early corner in the second half and Zouma had a chance to correct his first half mistake but his header were wide and rising. Ross Barkley was struggling in his unnatural left wing position and Wan Bissaka was untroubled until Pulisic was introduced in the second half.
Azpilicueta’s cross beat every red shirt in the box and reached Emerson and the left-back’s powerful shot was punched away by De Gea. Martial and Rashford made Chelsea pay for not taking their chances by extending United’s lead to three in a matter of two minutes.
Man Utd’s new signing Harry Maguire robbed the ball off Abraham and launched a quick counter. After a series of quick passes, Perreira whipped in a cross from the right wing and Martial turned it in from six yards out.
Rashford made it three and the Chelsea centre-backs was caught completely off-guard by Paul Pogba. The French midfielder played a brilliant pass over the top to Rashford who made the run and slotted it in with a composed low shot that beat Kepa Arrizabalaga .
Lampard brought in Kante and the move seemed to indicate Chelsea were going for damage-control.
Substitute James scored the fourth for Man United on another quick counter-attack. Pogba was the architect once again and the French midfielder drove into the Chelsea half and angled a pass to James who slightly over-ran it but recovered to register a shot. Kepa had it covered but the deflection from Emerson was enough to beat the Chelsea number 1.
Chelsea had more possession, registered 18 shots with 7 on target against United’s 5 from 11 and were in control of the game for most parts. Frank Lampard’s first tough test should have given him a valuable lesson – tiny margins can cost his side the game at the highest level.
Man United weren’t great despite what the scoreline suggests but they did enough to expose the defensive frailties of Chelsea and the inexperience especially up-front. The Old Trafford faithful have a lot of positives to take from the performance of the new boys especially Harry Maguire who picked the Man of the Match award.
LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.
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