Rogers and Palmer score as Chelsea beat United

Second-half goals from Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer secured victory for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Rogers scored a superb individual goal and, after Manchester United’s Lisandro Martínez was sent off for a reckless challenge on Wesley Fofana, Palmer converted the resulting penalty.

Chelsea rode their luck in the first half, with two errors from Fofana almost leading to goals.

Amad Diallo was denied by keeper Mike Penders after robbing Fofana and, just before the interval, Amad blasted over when clean through after Fofana had again given the ball away.

Bruno Fernandes also missed a great chance, shooting over with just Penders to beat after being put in by former Brentford man Bryan Mbeumo.

At the other end, Chelsea went close when the ball bounced off Blues midfielder Moises Caicedo and hit the post following a corner.

And both teams had goals disallowed – the recalled Estevao netted from the rebound after Palmer’s shot had been parried by United keeper Senne Lammens, and Matheus Cunha appeared to have opened the scoring when he tapped in, but the goal was ruled out for offside following a VAR check.

Having been on the back foot for much of the first half, Chelsea found themselves two up and playing against 10 men within 20 minutes of the restart.

Rogers scored a brilliant opener, running through the heart of the United defence and dinking the ball over Lammens.

And after Fofana went down in the box clutching his face after a challenge from Martínez, a penalty was awarded and a VAR check led to the United defender being given a second yellow card.

Palmer stuck away the penalty and there was no way back for the visitors.

The popular Estevao then delighted the home crowd by hitting the net with a thumping strike, but the goal was disallowed for offside – again after a VAR check – and Mbeumo fired against the bar in stoppage time.