Chelsea’s winning run in the Premier League was brought to an end by 10-man Nottingham Forest who battled to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge to maintain their own strong start to the season.
Enzo Maresca’s side were chasing a fourth victory in a row to shore up their place in the top four but needed a brilliant solo equaliser from Noni Madueke to cancel out Chris Wood’s goal early in the second half.
Thereafter Chelsea bombarded the visitors and looked likely to go on and win when James Ward-Prowse was dismissed for handling the ball as Nicolas Jackson threatened to race through on goal.
But Forest, who also lost England forward Morgan Gibbs-White to injury, survived a frantic 13 minutes of stoppage time, during which goalkeepers Robert Sanchez and Matz Sels produced remarkable saves, to leave with a point.
Full-time: Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester United
Meanwhile at Villa Park:
Villa v Man Utd LIVE: Result and reaction as pressure remains on Erik ten Hag
Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester United: Neither side could break the stalemate as the visitors were condemned to their worst start to a Premier League season
Full-time: Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
And that’s that. Chelsea should have won the game against 10 men, but in the end Forest might well have won it but for Robert Sanchez’s excellent saves in the second half. All in all, probably a fair result from a pulsating game.
Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
90+12 min: Sanchez saves Chelsea! Forest whip in a cross after a short corner where Jota Silva flicks a header towards the far post, but somehow the goalkeeper gets a glove on it.
Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
90+10 min: Jota Silva has done brilliantly on the counterattack, winning a free-kick from Wesley Fofana when he was going nowhere. That’s another minute gone. Fofana is booked for a frustrated challenge.
Three minutes left.
Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
90+8 min: Elanga leads a counter-attack down the wing for Forest. The ball finds its way to Aina who sets up Williams, but his effort is saved by Sanchez. Chelsea come again...
Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
90+5 min: Huge, great saves at both ends! A full-stretch Sanchez somehow denies Williams, before Sels pulls off a stop possibly even better to deny Nkunku. Wow.
Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
90+3 min: Mykhailo Mudryk and Pedro Neto replace Jadon Sancho and goalscorer Noni Madueke.
Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
90+1 min: The fury began when Chelsea claimed Cucurella had been shoved into his manager, Maresca, by Williams. Which replays suggest he had. Things have finally calmed down, but look at this: 13 minutes of added time! Can Forest cling on?
Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
89 min: This match has just descended into chaos on the touchline, with both benches flying at each other! Pushing and shoving aplenty, and yellow cards are handed out to Cucurella, Colwill and Williams.
