Man United vs Chelsea LIVE: Premier League result and final score as Cristiano Ronaldo salvages point
Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea: Marcos Alonso’s opener was cancelled out by Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo’s fifth goal in three games salvaged a point for Manchester United in a 1-1 draw against Chelsea on Thursday that further damaged his team’s chances of a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Ronaldo ran onto a ball over the Chelsea defense from Nemanja Matic and delivered a clinical finish in the 62nd minute, two minutes after Marcos Alonso gave the visitors the lead.
Reece James later curled a shot against the post for Chelsea, which dominated the first half but found United goalkeeper David de Gea in fine form.
With only three games left to play in the league, United stayed in sixth place — five points behind fourth-place Arsenal and having played two matches more than its rival for Champions League qualification.
Tottenham is between the two teams, in the fifth spot, with three more points than United and two games in hand.
Chelsea consolidated third place and is six points above Arsenal.
Ronaldo came into the game having scored a hat trick against Norwich and another goal against Arsenal in his previous two games.
On 17 goals, Ronaldo is tied with Son Heung-min in second place in the Premier League scoring chart behind Mohamed Salah.
Mauricio Pochettino was my pick for ‘in turmoil’ Manchester Utd, says Teddy Sheringham
Teddy Sheringham would have preferred Mauricio Pochettino being appointed as Manchester United’s new boss to Erik Ten Hag, who he hopes is given time with the club currently looking to be “in freefall”.
While Paris St Germain and former Tottenham manager Pochettino was linked with the role at United, it was Ajax chief Ten Hag last week named as the man set to take charge at Old Trafford this summer.
That announcement came between a 4-0 loss at Liverpool and 3-1 defeat at Arsenal that left the Red Devils six points outside the Premier League’s top four in sixth and interim boss Ralf Rangnick admitting he saw a Champions League berth as no longer realistic.
Mauricio Pochettino was my pick for ‘in turmoil’ Man Utd, says Teddy Sheringham
Ajax chief Ten Hag was last week named as the man set to take charge at Old Trafford this summer
Early team news for Man Utd vs Chelsea
Manchester United have a lot of injuires to deal with as Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho, Fred, Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani are all missing for tonight’s match while Aaron Wan-Bissaka remains a doubt.
On the flip side Chelsea hope to welcome back Antonio Rudiger and Reece James, who have both returned to training following injury but Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic are unavailable due to illness and injury respectively.
Man Utd vs Chelsea
Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of Manchester United’s Premier League clash with Chelsea. Ralf Rangnick’s men could really do with a win after three defeats in their last four league games sees them six points of a place in the top four. If there is any chance of the Red Devils securing Premier League football next season, they’re going to have to win most, if not all, of their remaining fixtures and hope that Arsenal and Tottenham both drop points.
Chelsea are pretty secure in third place but come into the game on the back of two shaky performances. The Blues lead Arsenal by five points and have a game in hand so manager Thomas Tuchel will want to capitalise on that this evening and move even further away from their London rivals in the table.
Cristiano Ronaldo is ready to play again for Man Utd and with rumours circulating that the incoming new boss, Erik ten Hag, isn’t planning on utilising him next season Ronaldo may want to give the Dutchman a reason to change his mind.
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