David Hytner’s match report has landed, which is my cue to head off. Thanks for your company and emails - goodnight!

The thoughts of David de Gea

“They had the best chances, to be honest, but I’m proud of the effort of the team today. I felt danger almost the whole game. We defended well and they missed some big chances. It’s not enough to draw but we’re in a tough moment so it’s a good result. We are defending a bit better, we are fighting for every ball. I feel like we are a team, we are all together.”

Chelsea had 24 attempts on goal to United’s three. That said, David de Gea didn’t have much to do in the second half.

On the Sancho goal, it’s a good thing he didn’t pass to Rashford - I’ve only just realised that Rashford was offside. It wouldn’t surprise me if Sancho registered that, because at first it looked like he wanted to draw Mendy towards him and then give Rashford an open goal. If so that shows impressive awareness from Sancho, if not Rashford.

Here’s the updated Premier League table. Two points separate the three best teams in England, arguably the three best teams in Europe.

That’s a good result for United, not to mention Liverpool and Manchester City. Jadon Sancho gave them the lead against the run of play after a mistake from Jorginho, who then equalised from the penalty spot after an error from Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

90+7 min: What a chance for Rudiger! A fine tackle from Rudiger on Lingard starts a Chelsea counter-attack. Eventually Mount and Ziyech combine with Pulisic, whose excellent deep cross is volleyed over the bar by Rudiger!

90+6 min And another: Bailly is booked for timewasting.

90+5 min A clever lobbed header from Fred finds van de Beek, who is cynically pulled back by Jorginho. Another yellow card.

90+4 min Telles’s corner is headed away. It would have been a scandal had that led to a goal.

90+4 min Tuchel is booked. Telles will take the corner...

90+3 min Ronaldo is clearly offside when Lingard puts him away down the left. Play continues and United win a corner, which prompts Thomas Tuchel to have an understandable meltdown.

90+2 min Ronaldo is booked for arguing over how play should resume following the McTominay injury.

90 min There will be a minimum of five added minutes.

89 min Bailly, hitherto flawless, is robbed by Mount on the right edge of the area. The ball is moved across to Ziyech on the edge of the area, and he whistles a shot that hits McTominay right in the kisser. That looked extremely painful, and there’s a break in play while he receives treatment.

89 min Bruno Fernandes is replaced by Donny van de Beek, who runs straight over to Fred and gives him a piece of paper. I hope he didn’t get it from Jackie Treehorn.

88 min: Oh, Fred! Mendy plays an awful pass, straight to Fred 25 yards from goal. Fred has Lingard and Ronaldo in support, but instead decides to float a lame chip straight into the arms of Mendy.

86 min Mount’s dangerous cross is headed away by Bailly, who has been at his frustrating best this afternoon.

86 min Jorginho plays a clever pass out to James on the left. He runs at Wan-Bissaka, then cuts back onto his right foot and flips a lovely cross that just evades the leaping Lukaku in the middle. Reece James has become a phenomenal player.

84 min Ziyech’s corner is shouldered over the bar by Loftus-Cheek. That was a pretty good chance, but he mistimed his attempted header and the ball hit his shoulder.

83 min Mount’s cross is belted behind by Bailly. Corner no14 (I think) for Chelsea...

83 min If it stays like this - and that’s an appreciable if with the way Chelsea are pressing - the top three will be separated by only two points. I know we’ve said this in the past and been let down, but it feels like we could have one of the great three-way title races this year.

82 min Chelsea bring on Romelu Lukaku, once of Man Utd, for Timo Werner.

80 min A crisp shot from Ziyech, 18 yards out, is too close to de Gea.

79 min: Great block from Wan-Bissaka! Ziyech pokes a short pass to Werner in the area. He lets it run across his body, losing Lindelof in the process, and hits a shot that is blocked by the stretching Wan-Bissaka. That almost certainly saved a goal.

78 min And now a double change for Chelsea: Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount replace Hudson-Odoi and Alonso. Reece James is now at left wing-back with Pulisic on the right.

77 min A United change: Jesse Lingard replaces Marcus Rashford.

76 min Fernandes is booked for a foul on Thiago.

76 min “Wan-Bissaka is our most out-of-form player,” says Christopher Faherty. “We’re nearly into December and he hasn’t played well in a single game all season, mistakes aplenty.”

That’s a competitive field. I’d say Maguire and Shaw have been worse but I agree Wan-Bissaka has been poor. Rangnick’s appointment is bad news for him too.

75 min Telles’s corner is booted clear.

74 min Fred’s cross is put behind by Thiago SIlva, which gives United their first corner of the game. Chelsea have had 479.

73 min “I wouldn’t be surprised to see this as CR7’s long-term role,” says Eric Peterson. “He doesn’t need to pace himself for 90 minutes, he doesn’t need to empty his gas tank chasing the game, he just needs to do the hold-up work of a No. 9 and be ready to spring the occasional devastating counterattack. Yeah, I’ve painted him as a ridiculously well-decorated Olivier Giroud, but at this point of his career and for this team, it is what it is.”

With his timing, mentality and instinct, I think he would be a brilliant impact sub. I’d give him the full sales pitch and highlight how much glory he could grab by coming on fresh for the last 20 minutes.

72 min Loftus-Cheek’s shot is blocked, then Ziyech volleys over with his right foot from James’ clever header. Chelsea look far more likely to win this now, although so did England against Romania in 1998.

70 min It’s not quite the full Tommy Hutchinson but it does feel like both goals belong to Jorginho.

United were fuming with the decision - I’ve no idea why - and there was a bit of pushing and shoving. Anyway, here’s Jorginho, who missed recently for Italy against Switzerland.

67 min Alonso’s outswinging corner hit Bailly on the back and dropped in front of Wan-Bissaka and Thiago Silva near the penalty spot. Wan-Bissaka tried to boot the ball clear - but Thiago got to it first and that meant Wan-Bissaka kicked through the back of his leg. It’s a clear penalty, and a daft piece of defending of Wan-Bissaka.

67 min: PENALTY TO CHELSEA! It’s all kicking off!

65 min Rashford has moved to the right, with Ronaldo playing from the left.

64 min A change for Manchester United: Cristiano Ronaldo replaces the goalscorer Jadon Sancho.

63 min James’ dangerous cross is put behind by Bailly, who then heads Alonso’s inswinger away. Bailly has played well today.

61 min Yet another Chelsea corner, their ninth of the game. But at the moment they’re a mixed blessing, because United are counter-attacking with such menace. This time Rashford leads the break but then takes too long on the ball.

59 min Rashford rolls Chalobah, who pulls him back and is lucky not to be booked. I think I missed a Reece James booking in the 53rd minute by the way.

58 min Chelsea have had a flurry of corners since going behind. The latest one falls for Werner, who swishes the bouncing ball wide of goal from 12 yards. It was a decent chance, though slightly tricky because the ball was slow to come down.

57 min United break three on three from a Chelsea corner. Chelsea do well to delay the attack, and eventually Fred’s cross drifts a few yards wide.

55 min Ziyech plays a lovely reverse pass to release Loftus-Cheek in the inside-right channel. He surges into space and then tries to find Werner with a low cross that is crucially cut out by a United defender.

53 min It was a bad mistake from Jorginho, though it was - as Jamie Carragher points out on Sky - a forced error. Sancho and Rashford were charging towards him, which led to the poor touch.

James’s free-kick was half cleared and then volleyed over the halfway line by Fernandes. Jorginho, the last man, miscontrolled the dropping ball and was robbed by Sancho, who ran through on goal from the centre circle. He had Rashford in support, with no Chelsea defenders in the same postcode. Sancho dummied to pass to Rashford, slid the ball calmly past Mendy.

50 min Chelsea have a free-kick 20 yards from goal on the right wing. Alonso and James are over it...

49 min Werner’s shot is blocked by Lindelof, and then Rashford is booked for a lunge at Chalobah.

46 min Peep peep! Manchester United begin the second half, with no changes on either side.

Meanwhile

Half-time reading

45+1 min James’ inswinging free-kick from the left almost sneaks in at the far post. It was probably going wide anyway, but de Gea took no chances and flapped it behind.

45 min McTominay is booked for pulling back Alonso.

44 min Fred nutmegs Rudiger in the area and then goes down. No penalty, though there is a brief exchange of views between Fred, Rudiger and Jorginho.

42 min That was an excellent chance for Sancho. He made a lovely run behind Thiago Silva, and with a better first touch he would have had a one-on-one with Mendy.

41 min: Chance for United! Fred plays a one-two with McTominay and lofts a good pass over the defence to release Sancho, but his chest control is poor and the ball runs through to Mendy.

39 min Chalobah robs Fred just outside the United area on the right. Ziyech picks up the loose ball and waves a low cross that is cleared by Wan-Bissaka. Actually, I did Fred a disservice there - he was put in trouble by a poor pass from Rashford.

38 min “This seems a very iffy tactic from United,” says Niall Mullen. “They do not look organised, or even fit, enough to keep Chelsea out for the full 90. They should at least think about occasionally attacking the Blues’ Carabao Cup side.”

36 min An awful crossfield pass from Fernandes goes straight to Hudson-Odoi, 25 yards from goalk. He runs to the edge of the area before hitting a tame, deflected shot that is comfortably saved to his right by de Gea.

35 min Successful passes in the final third: Chelsea 54-3 Man Utd.

34 min The corner is half cleared and then recycled to Werner, whose cross from the right is cleared desperately by a United defender.

33 min Hudson-Odoi’s short-range cross hits a United defender and goes behind for another corner. It’s all Chelsea.

33 min The corner is headed away at the near post.

32 min Werner’s shot from the edge of the area takes a deflection off Lindelof and goes behind for another Chelsea corner.

31 min: Rudiger hits the bar! Hudson-Odoi runs at Wan-Bissaka and plays the ball back to Rudiger, 30 yards from goal. He has a touch and hammers a shot that beats the diving de Gea and thumps off the crossbar. de Gea might have had it covered, I’d like to see it again, but it was a sizzling strike.

29 min United’s plan is clearly to take the game deep and then bring on Cristiano Ronaldo to score a last-minute winner. So far, so good, at least in terms of the scoreline.

28 min “Dear Rob, continuing the Krautrock theme so dear to my heart,” begins Russell Richardson. “What about a team which gives bursts of luminous melody, followed by abrupt cuts to a wolf howling into a tin pail, a passing train, an oompah band, a concrete mixer, then an acoustic guitar figure followed by churning drums and who knows, a bloke sitting on a bucket, glowering? Bielsa is Faust!”

27 min “On the subject of not much happening,” says Ian Copestake, “I developed a football chant in frustration at my attempt to put a pork Wellington together: ‘Posh sausage roll. You’re just a posh sausage roll ...’”

See, you don’t get this anywhere else.

26 min James flashes a dangerous ball across the six-yard box. Alas for Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku is on the bench.

25 min Hudson-Odoi’s teasing cross is headed wide by Werner. It was fractionally too high, which meant Werner couldn’t get over the ball.

22 min A mistake from Bailly on the halfway line allows Chelsea to counter. James gets away down the right and lifts a deep cross that is missed by Wan-Bissaka before bouncing off Alonso and out for a goalkick. I think Alonso was surprised that Wan-Bissaka missed the ball, and he wouldn’t have been the only one.

21 min Bruno Fernandes drags a shot well wide from 25 yards.

20 min Jorginho plays a nice pass to release Alonso down the left, but he dithers and is tackled by Wan-Bissaka.

18 min Hudson-Odoi runs at Wan-Bissaka then feeds the ball back to Ziyech on the edge of the area. He sweeps a first-time shot over the bar.

17 min Possession percentages: Chelsea 72-28 Man Utd.

16 min Not much happening at the moment. Chelsea have been the better team, though United’s defence has settled down after a nervous start.

14 min “Apropos of not much Can,” writes Phil Podolsky, “I always wanted to see a Ronaldinho skills video (including that little wiggle before the goal at Stamford Bridge) set to this tune.”

13 min United haven’t yet got going as an attacking force. Sancho has had one or two nice touches, but that’s about it.

11 min “Evening Rob,” says Simon Toussaint. “Rangnick as Stockhausen feels very apt for the bloated vanity project that is Manchester United, given Stockhausen’s most infamous composition is the gargantuan seven-part opera cycle Licht, which features the Helicopter String Quartet (yes, 4 string players in 4 different helicopters) as one part of one opera.”

If we’re not careful, this football blog could start to veer off-piste!

9 min Werner wins a corner off Wan-Bissaka. Even though they are missing maybe five or six of their best XI, Chelsea look so smooth and confident. Their squad depth is frightening.

8 min Lindelof, the senior man in United’s defence today, has made a very jittery start.

7 min Tactics update: Rashford left, Fernandes centre.

6 min United are pressing quite aggressively at times, though so far Chelsea have been able to play round it quite comfortably.

4 min: Another save from de Gea! Chelsea could be 2-0 up already. Thiago Silva’s long crosfield pass was headed infield by Alonso towards Hudson-Odoi on the edge of the area. Wan-Bissaka and Lindelof both missed the ball, as if paying tribute to the Maguire/ Shaw double act on the other side of the defence, and that allowed Hudson-Odoi to run through on goal. He coud have squared it to give Werner an open goal but instead sidefooted a close-range shot that was pushed behind by de Gea. That’s a really good save.

2 min Hudson-Odoi cuts inside from the left and plays a crafty pass to Ziyech into the area. He turns and sweeps a right-footed shot that takes a deflection and is saved to his left by de Gea. That was a pretty good chance.

2 min Bruno Fernandes is indeed playing as a false nine. It’s a 4-1-2-3 formation, really, with Matic a bit deeper than Fred and McTominay.

1 min Peep peep! Chelsea kick off from left to right.

“Wouldn’t it be better to equate Rangnick to Karlheinz Stockhausen?” writes Joe Pearson. “A precursor to and influential on the later Krautrock movement? And where’s the love for Ash Ra Tempel and the mighty Tangerine Dream?”

I’ll be honest, I’m out of my element here. But I like your suggestion: so Rangnick is Karlheinz Stockhausen, Klopp is Can, Tuchel is Neu!, and Kraftwerk are some unknown teenager who is going to rule the world one day.

Talking of Scott Murray, this is a cracking piece from the archives.

Thomas Tuchel’s pre-match thoughts

“We only have one game with Michael Carrick [to analyse]. It’s not the first time we have played against a team with a new manager. When that happens you focus more on individual behaviour and connections on the field between two or three players. This is what we did. We tried to analyse the game against Villarreal and find thigns that will influence [the way we play].

“It looks like Bruno Fernandes will play as a false nine, or as a nine. Let’s see. We have some options to react. We don’t waste too much energy speculating about things we don’t know.”

Pre-match reading

This piece, from my colleague Tim de Lisle, is a shrewd and funny look at United’s decision to appoint Ralf Rangnick.

The final scores in the 2pm games

• Brentford 1-0 Oh, Everton
• Leicester 4-2 Watford
• Man City 2-1 West Ham

Scott Murray, who is to football liveblogs what Ralf Rangnick is to gegenpressing, has written in with more Krautrock news. “I read an interview (I think in Mojo) with Damo Suzuki in which he said he’s now a Liverpool fan, having previously been a Borussia Dortmund fan. He’s really a Klopp fan when it all comes down.”

This analogy is getting really complicated now.

“Both Tuchel and Klopp can’t be Kraftwerk,” says Bob Coyne. “Klopp is definitely more Faust.”

I did think about Faust, and I was also tempted to slap Amon Düül II on the table, but I decided they weren’t famous enough to be Klopp. I’ll level with you: it was, at best, a half-arsed analogy, I didn’t give it that much thought.

“Today’s team has a very Rangnick look to it…” says Nick Parmenter. “Any chance he’s already been on the phone to Carrick?”

There’s plenty of speculation that Rangnick is behind the omission of Ronaldo. It’s possible, but I’m not sure this is a Rangnick team – for one thing it has seven defensive players. I suspect it’s Carrick’s choice, though I’m not basing that on any inside knowledge. Ralf won’t reply to my WhatsApps.

Thomas Tuchel makes three changes from the team that thumped Juventus. Marcos Alonso and Ruben Loftus-Cheek replace the injured pair of Ben Chilwell and N’Golo Kante, and Timo Werner comes in for Christian Pulisic.

Michael Carrick has picked a surprising team that has three defensive midfielders and no Cristiano Ronaldo. The decision to put Ronaldo on the bench has got the internet very excited. We’re not sure what formation United will play - it could be a diamond, a 4-3-3 or even a 3-4-2-1 with Nemanja Matic in defence.

Overall there are four changes from the team that beat Villarreal - Matic, Eric Bailly, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford replace Harry Maguire (suspended), Donny van de Beek, Ronaldo and Anthony Martial.

There are three other Premier League games taking place just now - you can get the latest news with Daniel Harris.