Thomas Tuchel continues his unbeaten run with Chelsea to seven games in the English Premier League. The 0-0 draw against United on Sunday at Stamford Bridge was not the fan-pleasing performance but to get away with that one point would be valuable in the grand scheme of things, coming just after their win over Atletico Madrid in UCL football.
Manchester United will also be happy with that one point which retains their second position in the table. Arsenal’s win against Leicester City has given a better levy for the blues to hunt down that UCL ticket.
VAR has yet again made all the headlines when United was denied a controversial penalty by referee Stuart Attwell in the 15 min. Hudson Odoi tussled with Masson greenwood in the Chelsea D box and the ball bounced off his hand, but as he was not moving towards the ball, Attwell ruled in favor of blues.
“How can this be a VAR intervention? The player in red plays the ball with the hand and then we are checking for a penalty? Why does the referee have to see this. I’ve seen it on the iPad, I don’t understand why the referee has to check it but I’m glad it was no penalty. That would make it even worse.”
– Thomas Tuchel
But his counterpart Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was furious with the decision and said that
“It was a penalty, 100% nailed on. If that’s a natural position for a hand to be in when the ball comes in then I must be blind,” he said after the game”
Hakkim Ziyech had a great chance when Ben Chilwell struck a cross into the United box but instead of placing it into the net, he struck the ball straight at David De Gea.
Chelsea was criticized for not being brave enough to take the game to the final third even with lots of possession.
“I thought we were closer to winning it, but there was a lot of quality on the pitch. Performance-wise I’m satisfied. We defended very well in the last line, and I’m very happy with that. We take what we got. I’m absolutely happy. Against a team like Man United you don’t get many chances.”
