Chelsea and Manchester United failed produce a winner at Stamford Bridge, finishing 1-1 in the derby of the 13th round of the Premier League. This result made the battle at the top of the standings even more interesting, as Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool fit close together in just two points.
The European champion had an advantage that was especially noticeable in the first half. Jorginho made up for an earlier mistake which allowed Jadon Sancho to score for United by netting a penalty 20 minutes before the end of the game.
Dominant first-half performance from the Blues, with United heavily indebted to goalkeeper David De Gea for keeping them in contention until half-time, as the Spaniard produced a string of saves to deny Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Reece James, but saved the best to get the faintest of touches to send a rasping Antonio Rudiger shot onto the crossbar.
After the break, completely against the flow of the game, a clumsy first touch from Jorginho was punished harshly by Jadon Sancho to give the visitors the lead, briefly swinging momentum in their favour, but CHelsea were back in control well before Aaron Wan-Bissaka fouled Thiago Silva in the box and allowed Jorginho to make amends by calmly equalising from the penalty spot.
Missed chances for Timo Werner and Rudiger to take all three points, which would have been a result Man Utd could have little complaint about, as they received a flurry of late bookings for wasting time, but a Chelsea victory was not to be.
“These things happen unfortunately in football sometimes and it feels like we dropped two points, because we did by far enough to win the game.” , commented Tuchel after the draw.
Chelsea will go into that trip to Vicarage Road still top of the Premier League, albeit having seen its lead reduced to just a point on Manchester City.
