London, Stamford Bridge — Chelsea’s encounters with Jose Mourinho never fail to amaze, and with the Blues in need of a positive result after collecting only one point from three matches against Roma and City, a win was necessary for Antonio Conte’s side. Meanwhile, Manchester United are still trailing Pep Guardiola’s ship and require a positive result to keep City in their sights.
United’s 3–4–1–2 deployed against Spurs, seemed effective as Mkhitaryan pressing down Harry Winks gave him less time on the ball which decreased his effectiveness in the building up process for Spurs, with Lukaku and Rasfhord pressing the defensive line, also here they went with a carbon copy of the system and starting line up. On the other half of the field, Chelsea were fielded in a 3–5–1–1 similar to their start against City, but with Cesc on the right side instead of the left side, which enables his passing and vision as he doesn’t need a second touch to adjust his body shape, a simple yet costly positioning decision which affected his performance against City. United started the game highly pressing Chelsea, and they managed to regain possession frequently, and were close to open the scoring when Rashford fluffed his header over Courtois to avoid a collision with the Belgian keeper.
Conte’s main offensive strategy revolved around emptying space for Bakayoko to invade the space as a late runner, this was helped by Hazard dropping into midfield to be more in a creator role, something he has done brilliantly when the Blues visited the Vitality Stadium last week against Bournemouth. This strategy proved its effectiveness in the opening minutes as Bakayoko was free in the eighteen yard box with only his dreadful finishing denying him from opening the score. United managed another chance through Lukaku whose shot had too much curl on it, falling easily for Courtois, this was it from United’s side in the first half as Chelsea continued trailblazing through the United defence with only De Gea to stop them. Herrera picked up Bakayoko, after the Frenchman seemed to be Chelsea’s main threat, and done an excellent job for the rest of the half man marking him. At the end of the half, United opted for long balls towards Lukaku to relieve the pressure, but he was outdone by Andreas Christensen, the young Danish defender who seems at home in Conte’s side.
In the second half Jose Mourinho chose not to change anything, despite Chelsea’s dominance throughout the first half, and this proved costly as after Hazard missed an easy goal trying to volley it with his left foot, instead of taking his time on the ball, Morata scored through a brilliant header after a wonderful cross from Azpilicueta, a Spanish connection that seems unstoppable with Azpilicueta providing identical crosses to the striker from a similar position against Everton and Leicester, in addition to two assists against Stoke. The brilliance of this goal was in how every detail of Chelsea’s offensive plan fitted in to complete the final puzzle, Chelsea’s interchanging of positions in midfield to try and free a midfielder — something which they had executed on an exquisite level in this match — confused Matic, and Herrera who were trying to address the ball and cover Hazard, resulted in Bakayoko being free on the right side(normally operating on the left side), which led to Jones having to step forward to cover him, this resulted in a disrupted defensive line from United which offered space for Morata, then Bakayoko’s run behind Jones attracted Smalling to further offer space for Morata. Simple yet effective movement from Bakayoko disrupted the whole United defence which is quite arguably the best defence in the league.
Jose Mourinho had to change things, and brought on Fellaini and Martial for Jones and Mkhitaryan respectively, and changed into more of a 4–2–3–1 to try and attack Chelsea through long balls for Fellaini. Conte was fast to respond, and after only four minutes swapped Zappacosta with Ruediger, as he knows that United would focus their crosses towards Azpilicueta who would in theory have a tough time against Fellaini, the Belgian had a tough start gifting Chelsea two chances which could have ended the game, but afterwards was a focal point for United’s attacks. United’s final substitution was peculiar as Mourinho took off his best crosser Ashley Young for Jesse Lingard, meanwhile the United players made it easier for Chelsea by crowding the left side of the field which helped Chelsea press them. Despite all of the above, United were close to a draw if not for a Courtois save from a Fellaini shot, and Rashford’s free-kick taking a deflection to just go over the bar.
The on going tune is how Mourinho is over defensive when travelling away to top six sides, however United’s major problem is that considering the players available, Jose’s most effective offensive strategy is using Fellaini as a focal point for aerial balls. On the other hand, Conte’s Bakayoko “Freaky Friday” Frank Lampard seemed to work effectively, despite the Frenchman failing to score albeit the number of chances he had, however this doesn’t undermine his importance throughout the game. The more important point for Chelsea is how Hazard is evolving into more of a creator rather than only a scoring winger, a huge aspect of the game which will improve his overall quality and transform him into the next level, to be the world’s best.
