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Publication date: Saturday, October 24, 2020 7:46 AM
Edinson Cavani came close to scoring with his first touch for Manchester United as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men pulled off a goalless draw with Chelsea in the pouring rain.
Having lost previous Premier League home games this season to Crystal Palace and Tottenham in suppressed fashion, the Red Devils were looking to get lucky for the third time when their first four rivals arrived at an empty Old Trafford.
But neither team fully mastered difficult conditions in the Northwest, where substitute Cavani came close to making a dream debut that would have compounded Chelsea’s exasperation over the lack of intervention from the assistant referee on video.
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Blues captain César Azpilicueta couldn’t believe Harry Maguire had his way and knocked him to the ground in the penalty area towards the end of a first half in which Edouard Mendy impressively denied Marcus Rashford and Juan Mata after almost switching to your own network.
Solskjaer turned to Paul Pogba and the acquisition of Cavani at the deadline early in the second half, with the latter coming close to finding the net seconds after entering when he threw a Bruno Fernandes cross into the side net.
United pushed hard for a breakthrough, but a first home win of the season sidestepped them, with Mendy denying Rashford a dream finish to a remarkable week in the final stages.
The 22-year-old’s latest effort secured Tuesday’s magnificent 2-1 win at Paris St Germain in the Champions League and eyebrows rose at Solskjaer’s decision to walk away from that team and the 3-5- system. 2 that worked so well that night.
Instead, it was Chelsea lining up with a three-man baseline on a wet night in which neither side was able to hold onto proceedings for the first 20 minutes without any notable goal threat.
Chelsea had cracked down on United but was unable to ask any serious questions, with the only potential initial flash point seemingly overlooked by officials on the field and VAR when Fernandes appeared to hit Jorginho’s face.
The first shot on goal of the night took 28 minutes to occur and David De Gea easily stopped Reece James’s attempt to catch him on a free kick, with Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy inexplicably moving closer to United.
The new Blues number one turned confidently and made a pass through his goal that was closer to finding his own goal than his intended goal, and the keeper sighed in relief as he saw him roll around a corner.
The goalkeepers became busier as the first half progressed, with De Gea making a comfortable save from Christian Pulisic and Mendy making a superb save with his feet to prevent Rashford from scoring at half-time in the 35th minute.
Mendy made a good save again when Mata took aim from the edge of the area, although his United teammates were more focused on what they felt was a penalty.
The VAR decided that N’Golo Kante had not fouled Rashford after verifying the incident and Chelsea also had penalty claims overlooked before the break as Maguire had his way and unceremoniously threw Azpilicueta to cover when heading for a free throw.
The second period started similarly uneventful to the first, with Solskjaer turning to Pogba and Cavani just 13 minutes after the restart.
The latter came close to making an immediate impact on his new club, sending a clever move to the side net for the first time when he took off to meet a Fernandes cross.
Kai Havertz and Pulisic were unable to get a cross pass from Chelsea’s impressive right-back James, whose 50-50 grind with Pogba caused a pause in play that took their momentum away.
Lampard turned to Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount in search of a winner who seemed more likely to go the way of the hosts as they investigated, with Mason Greenwood included in the mix.
United would have snatched the victory at the end if Mendy hadn’t produced a fantastic save to prevent Rashford from doubling a shot from the edge of the area.
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