Chelsea 2-0 Manchester United: Rogers and Palmer sink ten-man visitors

Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, with Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer on target either side of a Lisandro Martínez red card that left Michael Carrick's side with ten men for the closing stages, Yahoo Sports reported.

The result ended a barren spell for Xabi Alonso's team, who sit fifth in the Premier League, and stretched United's winless sequence in all competitions to nine matches.

United were the better side for long periods of a goalless first half. Bruno Fernandes squandered a clear sight of goal in the 19th minute, firing over after being played clean through by Bryan Mbeumo, according to Yahoo Sports.

Chelsea had a goal chalked off when Estêvão turned in a rebound from Pedro Neto's effort, only for the offside flag to go up. United then had their own goal disallowed in the 34th minute, Matheus Cunha converting Harry Maguire's header before VAR confirmed an offside call against the visitors.

Amad Diallo twice threatened for United, drawing a save from Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders before lifting another chance wide of the target. Chelsea's nearest effort in that opening period came from Levi Colwill, whose header struck the post after deflecting off Moisés Caicedo, Yahoo Sports reported.

Chelsea broke the deadlock shortly after the restart, Rogers capitalising on what Metro Football described as a woeful piece of defending from Martínez to put the hosts ahead in the 50th minute.

Martínez's afternoon worsened from there. He was dismissed for a second bookable offence following a VAR review after catching Wesley Fofana with his forearm inside United's own penalty area, a decision that left the visitors to see out the remainder with ten men.

Palmer made the extra man tell, converting from the spot in the 64th minute to double Chelsea's advantage and settle the contest.

The Guardian's live coverage of the second half captured a United side under mounting strain, with Estêvão denied again late on by a smart save from Senne Lammens after combining with Palmer down the right, the Brazilian left to rue two earlier efforts that had already been ruled out.

Peter Schmeichel placed the blame for the defeat squarely on Martínez's second-half performance. "I put this solely on Lisandro Martinez's shoulders," Schmeichel said after the match, according to Metro Football.

He went further in a separate assessment of the defender's conduct. "This is an absolute disgrace how he played this game. Two weeks ago he came out and made some very, very strong statements against his teammates, against the football club, and it felt like he was trying to orchestrate a move. He's in the last year of his contract," Schmeichel said.

The defeat adds further pressure on Carrick, whose side have now gone nine games without a win across all competitions, a run that leaves serious questions over form and discipline heading into the coming weeks.