By Fitzgerald Cecilio

Substitute Javier Hernandez buried a late goal as the Manchester United ended Chelsea's unbeaten Premier League start with a 3-2 victory Sunday at Stamford Bridge.

The win put United in a tie for second place with rival Manchester City, one point behind Chelsea, which played with nine men in the last 22 minutes of the game with the ejection of Fernando Torres and Branislav Ivanovic.

Hernandez, who replaced Tom Cleverley, was at the right place at the right time when the ball landed in front of him after Petr Cech deflected Robin Van Persie's shot. He wasted no time and poked the game-winning goal from close range in the 75th minute.

A David Luiz own goal and Van Persie's ninth goal of the season put United ahead by 2-0 after 12 minutes.

Chelsea then responded with Juan Mata's curling free kick in the 44th minute and Nascimento Ramires's header in the 53rd minute tied the count at two.

However, Chelsea's momentum came to a halt when Ivanovic was sent off for tripping Ashley Young before Fernando Torres was shown a second yellow card for simulation.

After the game, Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo blamed referee Mark Clattenburg for the loss.

"The key decisions from the referee today influenced the result," Di Matteo said. "He sent off Fernando Torres and the third goal is offside. Those things have clearly decided the game in the favor of our opposition."

Di Matteo later admitted that Chelsea had a poor start, allowing United to score two goals in a span of 12 minutes.

"I don't think we deserved to lose. When the game was even we showed how strong we are and I felt very confident we would go on to win the game, and even when we went down to 10, I didn't think we were going to lose," he said.

In other games, goals from Demba Ba and Papiss Demba Cisse lifted Newcastle United past West Bromwich Albion, 2-1; Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey scored a goal each to carry Tottenham Hotspur past Southampton, 2-1; and Everton and Liverpool settled for a 2-2 draw.

 

 

Late Goal Lifts Manchester United Past Chelsea