All hype is gone says Sarri
And they produced for him in style, hammering in five goals and producing some of the spark and free-flowing football that had been sorely missing under Jose Mourinho.
Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera and Anthony Martial scored in the first half and Jesse Lingard’s s e cond- ha l f doubl e completed the rout of Solskjaer’s former club.
The players – including the recalled Paul Pogba – looked re-energised under the Norwegian.
And the former Old Trafford striker wasn’t surprised. Solskjaer said: “I didn’t dream about this game last night.
“It was the first good night of sleep I’ve had because the boys have made me settle in very quickly. I’ve enjoyed being in the dressing room and the first couple of nights I was thinking about every single little thing.
“I woke up this morning and it was the best sleep I’ve ever had. My team was sorted early yesterday.
“They are good players. It’s Maurizio Sarri insisted Chelsea’s title hopes had not been buried by a 1-0 defeat by Leicester, because they had no chance of winning it in the first place.
Jamie Vardy’s goal handed the Blues their first home defeat of the season.
Boss Sarri said: “As I said at the beginning of the Premier League it is impossible to catch Liverpool and Manchester City, we have to be careful to stay close to the first four positions.”
“After the goal our reaction was not the right one. In some situations we were unlucky but I think that we could have done some things better.”
Seething Sean Dyche accused Arsenal players of diving during their 3-1 win over his Burnley side. Two goals from PierreEmerick Aubameyang and Alex Iwobi’s late strike sealed all three points.
Dyche and Arsenal boss Unai Emery had a heated exchange at full-time and the Burnley boss said: “Their manager accused me of questioning the referee and I said to him ‘Yes, I was. Merry Christmas’. No one wants to see diving in the game but there were two today, well three with Xhaka late on when Vudra goes through with him.
“I know he’s dived because he’s looking at the referee within a milli- second of going down. I don’t want to see that , I don’t think anyone else should want to see that but nobody wants to do anything about it.”
Watford’s dream season continued with a 2-0 win at West Ham.
Troy Deeney’s first half penalty and Gerard Deulofeu’s 88th minute strike clinched the points.
Southampton moved further clear of the drop zone and left Huddersfield in deep trouble with a 3-1 win at the Terriers. Nathan Redmond, Danny Ings and Michael Obafemi sealed the win.
Struggling Newcastle and Fulham ground out a goalless draw while Bournemouth defeated Brighton 2-0.