Erik ten Hag made smart Carrington change before Manchester United win vs Chelsea

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Manchester United had lost 10 of their 21 fixtures before facing Chelsea at Old Trafford on Wednesday night and changes were required for what many considered a must-win game for Erik ten Hag.

Although there were signs of improvement against Everton and Galatasaray, last weekend's performance against Newcastle was indefensible and Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial needed to be dropped.

Ten Hag subsequently did the right thing and benched both players. Rashford's lack of work rate had been heavily criticised during the Newcastle inquest and it would have been wrong to start him against Chelsea.

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There were also tweaks in defence and midfield, with Diogo Dalot replacing Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Sofyan Amrabat coming in for Kobbie Mainoo, which meant there were four changes to the starting team.

Those changes had the desired effect. United came flying out of the blocks against Chelsea and they started with impressive intensity, although making a positive start hasn't tended to be a problem this season.

United made excellent starts against FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray away from home and didn't win either game due to the lack of good game management, control and dreadful defensive record letting them down.

Bruno Fernandes' saved penalty ultimately didn't halt the momentum against Chelsea and United were good value for their 1-0 lead when Scott McTominay, currently in the goalscoring form of his life, found the net.

In truth, the game was always bound to produce chances at both ends and Chelsea were likely to