Chelsea remain 13, 17 points below the top four, but while their Champions League qualification hopes have long seemed over, Costa’s goal dealt a weighty blow to embattled United manager Van Gaal.
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“I feel we didn’t reward ourselves with a victory but we were the better team”.
Chelsea overall have not been a force to be reckoned with this season, particularly when playing at Stamford Bridge.
And in the final seconds of the first half, Chelsea felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Willian sent the ball in from the right and Daley Blind blocked Terry’s shot with his arm.
Before that the visitors forced Thibaut Courtois into a fine save as Anthony Martial cut inside to shoot and United were on top again early in the second half, when Courtois had to save from Wayne Rooney and Lingaard.
Chelsea coach, Guus Hiddink however has an unbeaten run since taken over from Jose Mourinho.
Ramires was sold to Jiangsu Suning by Chelsea last month for a reported £25million as part of a wider investment in football, with other players also heading to the Chinese Super League.
This was once one of the standout fixtures of the seasons but United’s decline since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 coupled with Chelsea’s unexpected slump has made it a sideshow.
But Diego Costa equalized in the 91st minute to earn The Blues a share of the points. “He’s put his hands up…they’re hard ones for the referee, inside the box it’s going in, it’s got to be a penalty for me”.
Zouma was then stretchered off, being replaced by Gary Cahill.
Things went from bad to worse for Chelsea as they fell behind as a result of United’s next attack.
Two minutes later United added insult to injury by taking the lead, Rooney cushioning Borthwick-Jackson’s cross into the path of Lingard, who took a touch before hooking home a right-foot shot on the turn. Until the last quarter we played very well and could have scored more goals.
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“Maybe you remember also the first years of Fergie?” It’s been a microcosm of both team’s seasons as they’ve been unable to win the games they’re supposed to.
