It has come to feel like a collector’s item – a Manchester United goal in the Premier League. When it came, Bruno Fernandes scoring from the penalty spot on 70 minutes, the celebrations were suitably wild. Especially from Ruud van Nistelrooy, the United interim manager who is keeping the dugout warm for Rúben Amorim.

Van Nistelrooy pumped his fists, he ran down the line, he jumped up and he punched the air. It was like the old days when he led the United line, and the release of emotion was understandable because there had been plenty of frustration about the team’s performance.

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It was only their ninth goal of the league campaign – in their 10th game; remarkable levels of profligacy have been a major theme, one of the many drivers in the demise of Erik ten Hag.

The lead lasted only four minutes. Chelsea deserved something, especially on the back of their first-half display, and they got it when the game’s best player, Moisés Caicedo, caught a dropping ball so sweetly on the edge of the area after a half-cleared corner. It was a celebration of technique and concentration, the volley fizzing through a crowd and into the bottom corner, André Onana powerless.

There were chances at both ends thereafter, Fernandes blowing a gilt‑edged opportunity in stoppage time but the draw was about right. It left United on 12 points, their lowest tally after 10 league fixtures since 1986‑87, the season when Alex Ferguson took charge on 6 November (after 13 games). It is fair to say that Amorim will start from a low base.

Van Nistelrooy has two more games in charge – PAOK in the Europa League on Thursday, Leicester on Sunday, both at home – and this one was always going to be tougher than the Carabao Cup romp against Leicester last week. Chelsea had travelled with confidence, Enzo Maresca reverting to his first-choice XI after rotating all of them in the Carabao Cup exit at Newcastle. The team were set up for Cole Palmer and he was prominent, as usual.

There was a reason why Palmer sought space up the inside left; to get at Casemiro, to exploit the United midfielder’s lack of mobility. It was from a loose Casemiro pass that Palmer almost profited early on, Caicedo stepping up to win the ball and feed him. Palmer was kept out by a solid piece of one-on-one defending by Matthijs de Ligt.

Chelsea were the better team in the first half, more cohesive up through the thirds, Caicedo excellent. Their big chance was Noni Madueke’s header from a Palmer corner on 15 minutes. With Wesley Fofana also free behind him, Madueke adjusted his body to head against the post. Was Fofana better placed? On the rebound, Lisandro Martínez swiped at Levi Colwill. Chelsea wanted a penalty. It would have been generous.

Chelsea’s press created a few problems for United, especially when Onana played Casemiro into trouble, Caicedo making the challenge and watching the ball loop up and over the crossbar. Chelsea’s general menace, though, did not translate into many clear chances.

United wanted to win the ball and transition quickly, looking for Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford. There were too many times when they either missed their passes or did not move the ball quickly enough. It was a slog; plenty of effort, low levels of composure and quality.

United did have chances in the first half, two big ones, the first in the 24th minute when Rasmus Højlund crossed low on the counter and Rashford let it run for Garnacho. He stepped inside only to shoot tamely. On the stroke of half-time Fernandes crossed for Rashford, who banged a volley off the top of the crossbar from a difficult angle.

Pedro Neto ran at Diogo Dalot after the interval and drilled low past the far post but it was increasingly error strewn and attritional. When Garnacho blew a golden chance from a Fernandes cutback, scuffing the shot with his right foot, it was easy to wonder where the goal would come from. For Garnacho, it was one of those days.

Højlund battled gamely with Fofana and Colwill and finally he gave the former the slip, getting in behind him to control a Casemiro cross. If the touch took him away from goal, he got his reward when Robert Sánchez flew off his line to catch his ankle with his gloves. Fernandes’s penalty was nerveless.

Game over? Not a chance. With this United team, the closing stages are normally the prompt for the chaos. Once they were level, Chelsea almost scored again, the ball reaching Enzo Fernández, on as a substitute, after a ricochet and a De Ligt slip. With Onana off his line, Fernández’s chip sailed high.

Back came United. Garnacho shot past the far post and faded a side-on volley too high. In between times Joshua Zirkzee, on as a substitute, was too slow to get in on goal after a Fernandes flick.

Fernandes almost had the final word, enjoying the break of the ball inside the area only to volley over. Martínez was fortunate to see yellow rather than red at the very end after raking his studs down Palmer’s knee; he set out to stop him and wanted to make absolutely sure. With United, there are precious few certainties at present.