Lisandro Martinez red card puts Manchester United on the back foot

Lisandro Martínez went from booked to sent off in four minutes as Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-0 at Chelsea vs Manchester United. He was shown a yellow card in the 59th minute, then a red in the 63rd after striking Wesley Fofana in the face at a Chelsea corner. Cole Palmer converted the resulting penalty in the 64th minute to make it 2-0.

Martinez's dismissal

The sending-off ended what had still been a live contest. Ally McCoist, on TNT Sport for manchestereveningnews.co.uk, said: "Ridiculous defending, you're just jumping into him, that's a penalty. Somebody explain to me why that's not a penalty?"

He added: "It's unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable. He runs right across, look, absolutely crazy, crazy."

The challenge was the decisive flashpoint, but Chelsea had already taken control through Morgan Rogers in the 50th minute after he got past Martinez too easily. Manchester United also had a goal ruled out in the 34th minute when Matheus Cunha was flagged marginally offside.

Chelsea's finish

McCoist also had Michael Carrick in mind as the red card landed, saying: "Exactly who I'm thinking about right now, Michael Carrick. Look at that. He can't look at him and nor should he. He's not looked at him and nor should he."

Chelsea's second goal settled it without fuss, and the scoreline was already beyond United by the time the hour mark passed. The result leaves Chelsea 2-0 winners and turns Martinez's afternoon into the main story from a match that had been competitive before the dismissal.