Scott McTominay comes to Manchester United's rescue against sorry Chelsea
Manchester United 2 Chelsea 1
A tempestuous week for Manchester United and Erik ten Hag, featuring a bad defeat at Newcastle, reports of dressing room unrest and the club banning media outlets, ended with Scott McTominay their saviour again.
The pre-match response from Ten Hag was dramatic, as he dropped Marcus Rashford, and the football that followed no less so, especially in a first half that featured goals from McTominay and Cole Palmer and a Bruno Fernandes penalty miss.
Finally, McTominay settled it for ten Hag’s inconsistent side, heading in Alejandro Garnacho’s excellent 69th minute cross to deliver three much-needed points to his club and cement his position as United’s leading league scorer, with five.
A helter-skelter first half should have seen United take complete control - not least because Fernandes missed a penalty - but, in the end, they could have paid for their misses.
Former City kid Palmer finally struck an equaliser for the visitors, cancelling out McTominay’s opener although, while United dominated possession, the visitors missed a whole string of chances of their own.
Finally, with half-time looming, they made it count. Thiago Silva and Mykhailo Mudryk combining to create a shooting opportunity for Palmer.
The youngster seemed to have been well corralled by Harry Maguire but, being forced away from goal, Palmer rolled a quite breathtaking finishing behind the diving Andre Onana and into the far corner.
Palmer, who made his shock move to Stamford Bridge from City this summer, hails from the suburb of Wythenshawe, just a couple of miles from Old Trafford as the crow flies, but this was his first senior game at the “enemy” stadium and the goal made it one to remember.
Not that his team should have
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