Chelsea vs Man United: Five things we learned as Anthony Martial rises above the doubters

Chelsea 0-2 Man United: Harry Maguire avoids a red card and goes on to score as United close the gap to fourth

Chelsea suffered a home 2-0 defeat against Manchester United in the Premier League on Monday night.

Frank Lampard‘s team started brightly and went close through Reece James and Willian, but lost N’Golo Kante to injury within the first quarter of an hour.

The home side certainly had more opportunities to open the scoring in the first half, but it was United who scored just before the break, Anthony Martial heading in Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross from the right.

Two Chelsea subs, Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud, both had goals chalked off by VAR for a push and offside respectively, while in between Harry Maguire sealed the points with a powerful header into the bottom corner.

Here are five things we learned from an eventful game at Stamford Bridge:

Kante injury issues a real concern

For a first-choice midfielder, N’Golo Kante hasn’t had anywhere near as many minutes this season as he, or Frank Lampard, would like.

Against United, Kante lasted just 12 minutes on the pitch before limping off with an apparent muscle injury. Ankle and hamstring issues have already plagued his campaign and now he appears destined for another spell on the sidelines with games against Tottenham, Bayern Munich, Bournemouth and Liverpool to come in the next few weeks across three competitions.

Kante has played fewer than 60 per cent of Chelsea’s total Premier League minutes this season, and only 50 per cent of those in the Champions League – which will reduce further if he misses the first leg against Bayern in one week’s time.

Silver lining for Chelsea in that centre of the park came in the shape of Mateo Kovacic’s excellent performance, but Kante is an integral performer who Lampard hasn’t been able to fashion his team around with any kind of consistency.

Key decisions go against Chelsea

Harry Maguire must have, for a few seconds at least, feared he’d be shown a card to match the colour of his jersey.

A collision by the touchline left the United defender on the floor and Michy Batshuayi following him, before the centre-back clearly thrust out a leg, making contact with the striker in what was undoubtedly an extremely painful location.

Intent seemed apparent, Batshuayi’s discomfort obvious. Neither referee nor Video Assistant saw fit to take action, however, immediately drawing inevitable comparisons with Son Heung-min’s recent similar red card.

Nor was that the only time Chelsea didn’t get the rub of the green; or of the red and yellow, more to the point. Willian danced his way into the penalty box past Bruno Fernandes, appearing to be fouled by the Portuguese midfielder right on the edge of the area.

Instead of the free-kick he was expecting, though, he received only a yellow card for a dive, while in the second half two Chelsea ‘goals’ were ruled out by VAR as the critical decisions continued to go the way of United.

Martial celebrates his goal against Chelsea (AFP via Getty Images) (Getty)

Martial rises above end-product concerns

Forty-five minutes into the game we had seen 13 shots in the game, with a single one on target – Anthony Martial’s goal.

The problems facing Chelsea have been evident in both the number of chances spurned on the pitch and the level of Lampard’s frustration in his press conferences: a lack of clinical edge. United weren’t much better themselves, barely creating a chance of note to miss the target with.

Michy Batshuayi was the biggest culprit, hooking one early effort off target, side-footing another wide and spurning one or two other chances. But Pedro and Reece James also fashioned presentable shooting opportunities and missed the target, as Chelsea’s recent woes in front of goal continued.

As for Martial, a run of one goal in his last five starts had seen questions of consistency come his way once more, especially with Marcus Rashford sidelined, so a brilliant run across the defender and headed goal was a perfect, and perfectly timed, response.

Lampard’s picks at either end of the pitch

The most expensive goalkeeper in the world and a World Cup-winning striker – neither picked for Chelsea for this rather vital fixture.

Kepa Arrizabalaga’s form dictates that his absence isn’t a major surprise, and perhaps over the longer term this approach from the Chelsea boss will reap benefits in terms of improved concentration, determination and reliability.

And in fairness to Willy Caballero, there was little he could do about United’s goals.

At the other end, Chelsea have a more immediate need for results as noted above. Olivier Giroud netted with a fine header after coming on, ruled out for a marginal offside, while he also flicked a lovely pass through for a chance for Kovacic.

He might not be a 20-goal striker, but he has a history of helping others perform in the final third and his presence surely justifies more involvement when Tammy Abraham is unavailable or a late goal required.

Race for fourth place remains wide open

Martial and Maguire’s goals pushed United to within three points of Chelsea, with a Champions League spot firmly open to whichever team can find consistency in the final dozen games of the season.

It’s not just these two, but also Tottenham and Sheffield United, who will fight it out for fourth – though of course an extra spot in Europe’s top competition could be handed out if Man City’s ban remains enforced.

Neither club should feel comfortable at allowing that to be the determining factor in their participation though, with both having plenty to work with – and plenty to work on.

In-form Tottenham may, in fact, feel they were the biggest beneficiaries on the night in west London, given only Liverpool have more consecutive wins than them at this moment in time.