Thursday, May 25, 2023 at 10:56 PM• Guy Habets

Manchester United will be active in the Champions League next season. Thanks to a 4-1 win over Chelsea on Thursday night, manager Erik ten Hag’s formation ends in the top four in the English Premier League anyway. The Red Devils took the victory thanks to a surplus of effectiveness, because from a footballing point of view, Chelsea was certainly equal in the first hour. Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford finally made the difference by pulling the trigger and it was only in the last minute that João Félix saved the West London honour.

Erik ten Hag started with the same eleven as against Bournemouth, which meant that Wout Weghorst and Tyrell Malacia were not in the starting line-up. The Dutch manager again opted for Luke Shaw at left back and posted Martial at center forward. It then had to be supplied by Jadon Sancho and former Ajax player Antony. Rashford returned from injury, but sat on the bench next to his trainer. They saw that Chelsea started the game dangerously.

Mykhaylo Mudryk already had a great chance to score in the opening phase. The Ukrainian was found in a detached position in the penalty area, but completely missed the ball at the decisive moment. That came the Blues expensive, because the first chance on the other side of the field was immediately hit. A beautifully cut free kick from Christian Eriksen was promoted with the head to goal by Casemiro, who just missed doing it in an offside position. After long deliberation, the VAR allowed the goal to stand: 1-0.

However, Chelsea continued to bite. Lewis Hall, the talented attacker posted on the left flank, was one of the few to make a good impression and it was therefore no surprise that he, after half an hour, deposited the ball on Kai Havertz’s forehead. However, the German headed miserably wide from close range. At that moment, Antony was already no longer on the field. The Brazilian was apparently seriously injured after a tackle from Trevoh Chalobah and had to be carried off the field on a stretcher.

Crying Antony is surrounded by teammates and leaves the field on a stretcher

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Rashford came on as his replacement and prepared the 2-0 in the stoppage time of the first half. He found Martial at the far post and all the Frenchman had to do was find the empty goal. The difference in effectiveness between United and Chelsea was huge, as the Londoners touched the ball more than 20 times in the enemy’s penalty area in the first half. They also had a big chance through Conor Gallagher, but scoring turned out to be too difficult for manager Frank Lampard’s formation.

The second half was less than a minute old when Fernandes could have scored his goal. However, the Portuguese pelted at the crossbar and the percentage of goals scored from opportunities for United dropped. That continued to fall as Martial also missed a dot of an opportunity, but for Chelsea the grapes were even more sour. They did not get rid of the hateful zero and also received a penalty kick twenty minutes before the end. Wesley Fofana tapped Fernandes and saw the Portuguese make it 3-0 from eleven meters.

In the end, the Londoners conceded four goals: Rashford took advantage of a mess in the back at Chelsea and made it 4-0 in two instances. Only in the very last minute did the visitors get what they were entitled to. The substitute João Félix was in the right place to tap in from close range and thus at least put a goal on the scoreboard for Chelsea. The cynical we’ve scored a goal the away section was just stunned when referee Stuart Attwell blew the whistle and United had definitively received their ticket for next season’s Champions League.