As he waits to take over as Manchester United’s interim manager, Ralf Rangnick will have watched this encounter and wondered what he was inheriting. At the very least, the team finally showed some fight, and in a game they were expected to lose. A draw away to the leaders is certainly creditable enough, and a significant upgrade from the shambles away to Watford that led to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking.

But this was the ultimate backs-against-the-walls, smash-and-grab performance with a large slice of luck to cap it off. United claimed what was universally declared a “big point” even if it also further highlighted how far behind Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool they are. Still, it will feel like a start.

Chelsea will also wonder – but, in their case, how they did not win given their almost complete dominance as the draw meant their advantage over City at the top was cut to a point. They are the Premier League’s second highest scorers after Liverpool, but they are also maddeningly wasteful – it was not Timo Werner’s day (again) – and the frustration was summed up in injury time when Thomas Tuchel was booked for protesting.

Yes, the head coach was right that Cristiano Ronaldo was offside, but the vehemence betrayed his bursting irritation as chance after chance went begging. He will hope that Romelu Lukaku, another second-half substitute, is soon back to full fitness and firing.

Although Rangnick is not yet physically in situ, it felt as if his influence was there on Michael Carrick’s team selection, even if the caretaker took ownership of it and denied that was the case, with Ronaldo dropped until he came on for goalscorer Jadon Sancho (which seemed a curious change).

Suddenly, it looks like the extent of Ronaldo’s involvement may become a theme of the season, and he walked straight down the tunnel at the end with no handshakes; no acknowledgement of the fans.

Either way, dropping Ronaldo makes it easier for Rangnick to do the same, should he want to. Maybe there was even more intervention from the German, with United’s technical director Darren Fletcher on the bench, wearing an earpiece.

If this is Carrick’s last game – he may take Thursday’s home match against Arsenal as Rangnick waits for his work permit – he will believe at the very least that he has stemmed the bleeding with a battling performance following the Champions League victory over Villarreal.

This was hardly pretty, although given United’s predicament, that is unsurprising. Still three shots, as opposed to Chelsea’s 24, and just seven touches in their opponent’s penalty area, against 46 from Chelsea, tells its own story.

This was a game for roundheads, not cavaliers, and United’s intention was clear when the team sheets arrived and a midfield of Fred, Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay – who almost became an auxiliary centre-back – was selected with Bruno Fernandes playing as a “false” nine, a role he found hard to execute. The slightly unsatisfactory nature of it all was summed up by both goals with Chelsea’s captain Jorginho – who will find out on Monday if he has won the Ballon d’Or – at the heart of them. “We scored two goals, one for each side,” Tuchel ruefully said – and it was hardly the touch of the world’s best player that allowed United to pounce.

It also felt apt that it followed a rudimentary clearance from his own penalty area by Fernandes. The Portuguese hoisted the ball high up to halfway, where Jorginho let it bounce horribly off his shin, allowing Sancho to whisk it away and find himself clear on goal with Marcus Rashford alongside. The pair sprinted on, with Sancho shimmying to deceive Edouard Mendy before side-footing home his second goal in as many games after a difficult start to his United career.

Chelsea were shocked. Jorginho was stunned. They had been so dominant and yet – somehow – were behind. It meant United had something to hold on to, but they were not good enough to do so.

The pressure built with Werner’s ugly sliced shot from a corner a poor miss before, from another corner, Chelsea were awarded the penalty that gave Jorginho a shot at redemption. He seized it.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka was at fault as he swung wildly at an attempted clearance and caught Thiago Silva. Despite United’s protests, the kick was given and Jorginho did his little stutter in the run-up before sending David de Gea the wrong way. Tuchel turned to the crowd demanding increased noise and Chelsea pushed forward even more.

At times, it felt like one team came to play; the other to play for a draw.

United’s game plan was clear. They did not touch the ball in the Chelsea area until the 44th minute with Fred easily blocked off by Antonio Rudiger and, by then, they should have been trailing.

With Harry Maguire suspended, the central defensive pairing of Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly started nervously before growing into the game. Lindelof was simply far too weak as he allowed Callum Hudson-Odoi to collect a header and run clear, only for De Gea to turn his shot away with his outstretched left leg. Then Hudson-Odoi cut the ball back to Rudiger, who whipped a powerful right-foot shot from 25 yards that beat De Gea and rattled the crossbar with the goalkeeper crashing into a post.

Rudiger held his head then and again at the final whistle when, with the last kick, he volleyed wildly over the bar when picked out unmarked at the far post. It summed up Chelsea’s profligacy and United’s good fortune.