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Manchester United went ahead courtesy of some beautiful play from Romelu Lukaku and Luke Shaw. Lukaku calmly dinked the ball over the Chelsea backline to an advancing Luke Shaw who cut the ball back to Juan Mata.
Mata finished it cleanly to score an outstanding goal against his former club. Chelsea started chasing the game and got their goal at the end of the first half thanks to a howler from David de Gea.
Antonio Rudiger advanced from his position to take a strong long-range shot. De Gea easily saved the shot but spilt it onto the path of Marcos Alonso who hit it past the Spaniard to bring Chelsea back into the game. The second half saw both sides fail to break the deadlock, and the game ended at 1-1.
Here we take a look at some conclusions and implications from the game.
#1 Chelsea's strategy
Maurizio Sarri's starting line-up was surprising, to say the least. Mateo Kovacic got his first start after the controversial Cardiff City game, and Alonso started as the left-back after 28 days.
It was clear that Sarri was prioritising "not losing". This was a clear after-effect of the losses to the other London sides - Spurs and Arsenal. Their losses meant that Chelsea only required 5 points from 3 games to really make it through to the top 4.
Starting Kovacic meant that Chelsea was defensively more solid. Chelsea was not over-pressing or over-committing. They let Manchester United take control of the game without doing anything stupid. The gameplan was clear - Chelsea was there to take one point.
A win would be a bonus but wasn't a requirement. With the Europa League semifinal looming, it was smart of Sarri to take a point away, in turn practically eliminating Manchester United from the top four race, and keeping Chelsea as likely candidates to finish fourth.
While many will criticize Sarri for his tactics, this was one game where he was spot-on. It was a gamble that paid off and Chelsea must now focus on the Europa League semi-final.
#2 Gonzalo Higuain cannot continue at Chelsea
Gonzalo Higuain came into Chelsea amid much criticism. It is safe to say he has done little to prove critics wrong.
Last night, Higuain probably had his worst performance in a Chelsea shirt and will regret the clear chance he missed right at the end. Higuain was offside on uncountable occasions and did little to link-up play. What is even more astonishing is that when he did touch the ball, he turned out to be offside.
Higuain was too slow to take the half-chances that came his way, and he failed to take advantage of numerous opportunities that came his way, and that cost Chelsea big time.
Higuain had a majestic opportunity when he got one-on-one with De Gea. Instead of finishing cleanly or passing it straight to Eden Hazard who was standing completely unmarked, he decided to chip it straight onto the Spaniard. That opportunity was a perfect reflection of Higuain throughout the match, just unable to be the man for Chelsea.
#3 Chelsea need reinforcements
Chelsea was pretty toothless and woeful (as has been the story throughout the season) in front of goal last night. Despite having some clear cut chances, Chelsea had to be content with a De Gea howler to get that one point.
This situation is a huge problem for a club trying to convince its best player (and the best-left winger in the world) to stay at the club. With a transfer ban looming, it is unclear how Chelsea will manage to pull themselves out of this mess.
Last night was a clear case of Eden Hazard trying to do too much on his own because his support cast was unable to assist him properly.
Chelsea has to go into summer with a clear vision. Transfer ban or not, they need to get themselves a world-class striker. New players are needed at the club and the deadwood needs to be removed.
Callum Hudson-Odoi was clearly missed last night as Willian didn't start doing anything until half-time, Higuain was his slow self, and Kante was not fully fit but still did everything he could. All in all, the club needs a revamp. Keeping the current core, reinforcements are needed, be it from the market or the academy.
#4 Premier League needs VAR more than ever
It would an understatement to say that the officiating last night was disgusting. Not just for one side, but for both sides. On another day, at least 3 red cards would have been handed out very easily.
Hazard was relentlessly fouled by the not-so-young Ashley Young. Every time Hazard would run away with the ball, Young would just ram into Hazard and escape without a card. After three street-fight challenges, Young finally got his booking towards the end of the game.
Eric Bailly went in with a horrible studs-up challenge but got nothing, not even a caution. Marcus Rojo lunged onto Willian's shin with both feet up but received only a yellow card, Azpilicueta slid underneath Sanchez on the break with a poor challenge but got away, Nemanja Matic elbowed Azpilicueta straight onto his face but was ignored.
It was some horrible if not absolutely horrendous referring, and VAR would have deemed half of those challenges as red cards.
Something needs to be done by the Football Association for this, as the level of "tactical fouling" has increased to unbearable extents.
VAR, if introduced next season, will come as a relief to many footballers and officials, as it will tone down the fouling and physicality in the Premier League.
