CHELSEA MAN UTD EDEN THE BEST MAN
And potless Jose is Wembley bridesmaid CONTE’S FUTURE UP IN AIR
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Hazard who managed to steal a march on Phil Jones. The centre-half had been caught napping. He was on his heels – and that momentary lapse was sufficient for Hazard to begin bearing down on goal.
Jones tried desperately to recover his ground. But his tackle, when it came 10 yards out, was clumsy and referee Michael Oliver was in an ideal position to award the penalty.
For anyone else this would have been a difficult and nerve-shredding moment. Hazard took a two-step run-up and managed to send David De Gea the wrong way. A goal was never in doubt.
That gave Conte and his men belief that they could pull this off.
United were strangely ponderous in attack. It looked like too much trouble. It looked like they couldn’t find the energy. They certainly couldn’t find the invention. They did find a way through to trouble Courtois. Jones should have done better with a header at the end of the first half from an Ashley Young cross, while Marcus Rashford warmed up the fingers of the Belgian keeper.
United’s best chance came just after the hour. Rashford’s free-kick was nodded goalwards by Jones, Courtois pulled off a superb stop and though Alexis Sanchez was on hand to finish, it was ruled out for offside.
After that, Mourinho (right) saw his game plan put to good effect, although Paul Pogba headed another chance wastefully wide.
So Conte will leave Stamford Bridge a winner – and for that, he’s got Hazard to thank. 3 ........... Shots on Target ........ 5 1 ............ Shots off Target ........ 9 2 ............. Blocked Shots .......... 4 5 ................... Corners ................ 9 11 ..................... Fouls .................. 13 3 .................. Offsides ................. 1 1 ............... Yellow Cards ........... 2 0 ................. Red Cards .............. 0 74.1 ....... Passing Success...87.9 22 ................. Tackles ............... 15 68.2 ...... Tackles Won % ....... 80 33.6 ........... Possession ....... 66.4 38.9 .... Territorial Adv % .... 61.1 305 ......... Total Passes ....... 586 5 ............. Total Crosses ......... 34 34.9 ......... 1st Half Poss ........ 65.1 32.3 ........ 2nd Half Poss ....... 67.7 during the post-match celebrations. He said: “This is great. I want to say ‘thank you’ to my players, staff and the fans. We deserved something special.” But asked about his future, he said: “We missed a place in the Champions League and for a club like Chelsea, that’s a problem. “Expectations here are very high. “I don’t know what’s happening. I have a contract with the club. I’m committed to the club. “We did our best this season but it wasn’t good enough. Finishing like this is great because the players deserve it.” Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho claimed his team had been the better of the two – and revealed that Romelu Lukaku had told him that he wasn’t fully fit before kick-off. He said: “Every defeat hurts but the ones that hurt less are the ones where you give everything and go without regrets. “When a player tells you he is not ready to play or start, the question is how many minutes you can play him. “He made a decision that he was not ready to start.”