Chelsea drew to Chelsea as Manchester United supervised

Chelsea drew to Chelsea. Yes, you read that right. Sure, Manchester United was there, but they were there mostly in body and not soul for at least the first half and a fair amount of the second. No, it wasn’t United that drew Chelsea. It was the Blues doing that damage to themselves. Manchester United was merely there to supervise.

Chelsea started on fire. United clearly came there with a plan to stifle the Blues and, frankly, that makes a lot of sense given where they are right now. Down both starting centerbacks, with an interim manager, and on a poor run that saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sacked, parking the bus made sense. But the thing about it is that it didn’t really matter.

The Blues created tons of chances despite United’s defensive posture. Callum Hudson-Odoi could have arguably have gotten a hattrick in the first half. Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, and Antonio Rudiger were all somewhat unlucky not to get something to go in. The first half ended level, but it was pretty clear which team was the more likely to score.

Until it wasn’t, of course. United managed to come up with a few half chances on the counter, but nothing that really threatened Chelsea. Then, Jorginho somehow ended up as the last man. A poor bit of overplaying saw Jadon Sancho latch on to the ball through on goal. Edouard Mendy, as good as he is, had no chance when he was left all alone like that.

Then, Chelsea did what they did in the winter of the last few seasons: they lost their heads after going down. The control which had been complete had completely gone away. United very much put the Blues on the backfoot for a significant amount of time. Eventually, the Blues would see some luck fall their way (and a bit of Thiago Silva hyping things up) as they drew a penalty. Jorginho halfway rectified his mistake.

But, in some ways that goal might have set Chelsea back. Thomas Tuchel had yet to make a sub and without being behind, he seemed even less inclined to do so. When the subs did come, they were too late to really influence proceedings.

And that’s how it went. United came with a plan to park the bus, but mostly their plan was to let Chelsea shoot themselves in the foot. The Blues obliged. The game could have been put to bed in the first half with better finishing. The mistake leading to goal shouldn’t have happened, least of all from a player in contention for Ballon d’Or. And the Champions League winners shouldn’t have lost almost all of their control simply because of one mistake.

The game doesn’t end the title race, but it should bring everyone back down to earth. The Premier League is a marathon and one small mistake or just a few dropped points can derail things. In the last four seasons, when these moments came, Chelsea would wilt.

Thomas Tuchel cannot allow his side to wilt now. He’s built too much too quickly to see it all fall to pieces just because some snow hit the ground. The United result was a self inflicted wound, but one that can’t be allowed to worsen over time. Chelsea must have a reaction, and a big one, against Watford midweek.