Carrick on the brink after United loses at Chelsea

Watch FULL MATCH REPLAYS & more via MUTV 24/7 on beIN SPORTS | Sign up TODAY!! | AU | NZ

Carrick seemed set to face the axe earlier this week after United's heavy defeats to Como and Bournemouth, but he was kept in charge for this Premier League contest, which was settled by goals from Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer.

Bruno Fernandes, back in the starting XI after he was benched against Bournemouth after his open criticism of Carrick's tactics, wasted the best of United's opportunities when he blazed over at the end of a rapid counter-attack.

Estevao had earlier seen a goal disallowed for offside, and United suffered the same fate when Matheus Cunha turned in from Harry Maguire's header.

Moises Caicedo deflected against the post from a Chelsea corner before Amad Diallo and Pedro Neto squandered big chances prior to half-time, but there were no positive signs for United after the break.

Less than five minutes after the restart, they gave Rogers the freedom of the park as he surged through midfield and into the box before lifting a deft finish over Senne Lammens.

United's frustration was then compounded by a moment of madness from Martinez.

He had only just been booked for a foul on Rogers when he went in forearm first on Fofana in the visitors' area, with referee Peter Bankes awarding the penalty and sending Martinez off after consulting the pitchside monitor.

Lammens could have done better to keep out Palmer's spot-kick, and only a video assistant referee (VAR) review for offside prevented Estevao from making it 3-0 soon after.

Bryan Mbeumo struck the crossbar before Palmer and Valentin Barco passed up huge chances at the other end in 10 minutes of stoppage-time, but it looks bleak for Carrick.

Carrick, though, expects to be in charge of United for its next game, a UEFA Champions League clash with Roma on Wednesday (AEDT).

"There is a lot of emotion, we're a great football club, and we want to win football matches," he said.

"The supporters come, make a lot of effort, pay a lot of money to watch us play. You can see the boys had the game in the right place and things have gone against us.

"Things have gone against us, and gone against us in a big way. Unravelled quickly. A lot of emotion right now.

"We have got to move forward and take the things that worked for us today. A lot of the good things, especially in the first half and use that moving forward.

"I think it was as good as we've played for some time in the first half," added Carrick, who said he did not feel let down by Martinez, who picked up two bookings in quick succession after Morgan Rogers had put Chelsea ahead.

"We looked dangerous, we looked fluid, we looked like a good team and we looked really dangerous.

"We could, should, have scored one or two, maybe three even with the chances and the spaces that we created, and then the game gets away from us.

"The second half got away from us, which is something we've got to deal with, you know.

"Sometimes you get setbacks in games and you've got to deal with that better, you know, from being in such a good place in the first half.

"The two halves of football probably couldn't be further apart in some ways."

The defeat left has United at risk of falling into the bottom three in the Premier League, but Carrick does not feel talk of a relegation battle is reasonable.

"Not for me, no," he said. "We've got to keep moving forward and winning games, simple as that.

"There's no words that I'm going to explain to you now that makes any difference, it's not going to change it.

"We've got to move forward and win football matches, it's as simple as that."