Jose brings race back to life
THIS was the game that was expected to confirm Chelsea as champions in all but name, but in the end it set the title race alight.
The Blues’ comprehensive defeat was greeted as gleefully among Tottenham followers as it was by their Manchester United counterparts. A result that intensified not only the championship chase but also the race for top-four places.
It is two defeats in the last four for Chelsea, no clean sheets in the last 10, while Diego Costa is going through a barren spell – no goals in his last five league games.
On top of all that, Spurs could inflict more damage on their confidence and score a major psychological blow in the title race by beating them in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
And Chelsea will go into that game on the back of their most insipid performance since the back-to-back league defeats by Liverpool and Arsenal in September that forced Conte to change his system.
Chelsea have held something of an Indian sign over United in recent years – they had not lost to them in the previous 12 encounters, home or away.
But that all changed yesterday with United dominating the game from start to finish with a pace, aggression and tactical plan that worked to perfection.
Chelsea did not win a corner for more than an hour and failed to register a shot on target for the first time in a Premier League game since their visit to Old Trafford in September 2007.
They had to reshuffle when Marcos Alonso pulled out feeling unwell just before the game while No 1 goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was out injured. But it is hard to believe the presence of those two would have made much difference, so good and fired up were United on the day.
It was fitting that Aeroflot were the match sponsors because United made flying starts to both halves and never looked back.
There were United heroes all over the pitch but Ander Herrera enjoyed his finest hour in a red shirt. He was sent off for two cautions when United went out of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge last month – the second of the fouls being on Eden Hazard. He must have had his worries when Jose Mourinho detailed him to manmark the Chelsea danger man.
But not only did he do that job so well he took time off to make United’s first after seven minutes and score the second four minutes after the break.
The Spaniard clearly handled as he won the ball from Nemanja Matic but referee Robert Madley gave him the benefit of the doubt that it was accidental. However, there could be no arguments about the quality of Herrera’s through pass which let Marcus Rashford, starting ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to race away from David Luiz and slot his shot past Asmir Begovic.
It was the earliest goal United have scored this season and provided a massive injection of confidence and belief into their play.
“We’re a team, just missing one player [Ibrahimovic] doesn’t cancel out everything that we’ve worked on throughout the week. Everyone
together grafted to get the result,” said Rashford.
The second goal summed up Chelsea’s miserable day. N’Golo Kante, of all people, was robbed by Ashley Young, who set up Herrera to fire past Begovic via a deflection off Kurt Zouma’s shin.
The result stretched United’s unbeaten Premier League run to 22 games – 12 wins and 10 draws – going back to that embarrassing 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge in October. “It was almost perfect,” said Herrera of the team’s performance. “Defensively it was perfect, they didn’t create any chances and on the counter-attack we hurt them.”
After last month’s FA Cup exit, Mourinho was desperate to avoid a hat-trick of defeats against his former club.
But more than any personal motive, he will just be relieved United are still fighting for a Champions League place on two fronts. After wins for Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool, this was a game United simply had to win. And they did so in some style.