Chelsea Beat 10-Man Man United 2-0 as Pressure Mounts on Michael Carrick
LONDON — Manchester United have gone even further down the toilet on Saturday as Chelsea beat them 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, extending their winless run to nine games and leaving Michael Carrick in a very precarious position with regard to his job. Second half strikes from Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer saw the wasteful United side punished as they were reduced to ten men following Lisandro Martinez's red card in the second half. The defeat leaves United in a precarious 17th place (provisional) just one point above the drop zone, while Xabi Alonso's Chelsea rocketed up to 4th. Carrick has held on to his position in the squad despite a very poor week which saw a 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth and a 4-1 European defeat away to Como. With club captain Bruno Fernandes being recalled to the starting XI following the recent fallout with the manager, United went in with the intent to win. The intent was there but as always the club's profligacy came to the fore and they wasted a number of good opportunities in the opening exchanges. Cunha's effort was ruled offside, Fernandes and Amad Diallo both had chances they didn't take and Bryan Mbeumo went close with a shot that rattled the post. At the other end Alonso handed the 19 year old Brazilian talent Estevao a starting role out wide as the scrutiny over his minutes mounted. He was a constant threat to United's back line and had a goal overturned by a very tight offside call before the break. Chelsea broke the deadlock four minutes into the second half. Rogers collected possession just inside United territory, moved past the backpedalling defenders and clipped a fine finish over Senne Lammens.  Any chance of a United comeback was gone in the 63rd minute. Martinez was shown a straight red card for a reckless lunge on Fofana in the penalty area. Palmer took the resulting spot kick and dispatched it into the corner, the ball slipping past Lammens (who did get a hand to it). "We didn't capitalise on the moments we had," Carrick said. "Second half got away from us... you've got those tough moments in a game and you've got to deal with them. If you give away a bad goal it's a lot harder to be in that position with 10 men." Carrick was very much in favour of his side sticking together through that awful period and he's still very much focused on Tuesday's European game against Roma at Old Trafford. For Chelsea it was three points which effectively stopped their own bleeding following the two consecutive defeats against Tottenham and Liverpool. Alonso was full of praise for Estevao's work on the wing. 'I'm absolutely happy for him and he certainly deserved to get the game in. He has a good connection with the crowd.'
