Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea, the tally looks as absurd as Jose Mourinho’s decision to rest Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, two of the three highest scorers for the Red Devils this season.
Mourinho has been the mastermind behind several victories in big games throughout his career and he usually does it with a defensive approach, setting up with a team that is almost impossible to break down. However, on Sunday, we saw a flip side to him when Manchester United played with just two attackers up front and wing-backs who were unusually high up the pitch. From the start of the game, they were on the front foot and rightly so, the opener came within seven minutes of the kick-off.
Chelsea was furious after Herrera was not penalised for what seemed a handball during his interception of Nemanja Matic’s pass. The Spain international then sent an excellent through ball towards Rashford who was racing clear at the front. This allowed the striker to convert with a cool finish into the far corner past Asmir Begovic.
https://twitter.com/IbrahimOJT_/status/853692427110100993
This also highlighted United’s presence of mind as rather than dribbling and battling at the midfield, they chose to pass to the last man inside the box for a clear net.
Throughout the first half, Manchester United neither gave Chelsea an inch of space on the pitch nor did they allow the visitors to get into any type of rhythm. While Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard were continuously attacking Blues’ defense, Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini and Herrera were able to win every battle in midfield.
Within four minutes after the break, in the 49th minute. Young was the man who took the ball from the midfield to the box and after having a cross blocked by David Luiz, he defeated N’Golo Kante at the corner of Chelsea’s box. Zouma came in to challenge his position and Young struck the ball into Herrera’s path, whose attempt at the goal got deflected off Blues’ own defender and went past Begovic.
https://twitter.com/TheHrvReport/status/853641469474873345
That was it. Chelsea did not manage to have a single shot on target during the game, which was also the for the first time for the Blues since September 2007 (v Man Utd at Old Trafford). This was by far the worst performance from the Pensioners in the last 10 years.
Here are the seven stats that prove Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea was one of the interesting game of the season and the worst for the visitors.
7 stats that prove Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea was one of the most interesting games of the season. 😳 pic.twitter.com/PJXS1q8d8y
— The Red Devils (@utdtrd) April 16, 2017
Furthermore, Marcus Rashford has emerged as the best possible replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the future and United’s win over Chelsea means that the Blues now lead with just four points over their closest rivals Tottenham and the race to the English Premier League has once again been opened wide.
Get Ready For Another Title Bloodbath!!
P.S Those who criticized Jose Mourinho on Twitter, must have deleted their tweets after this match.