Jose Mourinho was humiliated on his return to Chelsea as his former club blew away his Manchester United side at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues, who sacked Mourinho for a second time last year, led after just 30 seconds when Pedro capitalised on slack defending to roll in.
Gary Cahill smashed in the second after United allowed Eden Hazard’s corner to bounce in their box.
United offered little sign of making a comeback, falling further behind when Hazard drilled in a precise 15-yard strike.
N’Golo Kante skipped around a static defence to slot in and seal victory as Chelsea moved within a point of Premier League leaders Manchester City.
The comprehensive win lifted the Blues above Tottenham into fourth, with just one point separating the top five.
United stay seventh as the gap between them and the early pacesetters widens to six points, with almost a quarter of the season gone.
Post-match reaction
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte:“We made a fantastic start. We scored the early goal but we continued to play good football, intensity and possession, create many chances. Today we didn’t concede, which was important. It was a type of win that increases the confidence.Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho:
“We wanted to show our ambition and give the satisfaction to our fans and show last season was very bad.”
“You come with a strategy, you cannot concede a goal in the way we did.
“We were coming to have an offensive approach. We wanted to create chances; we showed that after the 1-0. The second and the third were counter-attack goals.
“It is one of those days when you give the advantage to opponents by doing nothing.
“In terms of points, we got zero points, we lose three points. We are six points from the top, three from the top four, we now need to win matches. We need to win our matches now, which are not easy.
“We need to win to close that gap – after these last three matches, we made two out of nine. We now need points.”
Belgium star Hazard lost his way under Mourinho last season, but showed his former boss that he is returning to his best form with an assist, a goal, and a constant threat to the United defence.
(More) stats you need to know:
- Chelsea have gone eight league games – winning four and drawing four – without losing against Manchester United, their best run against the Red Devils in their history.
- Pedro scored the fastest goal in the Premier League this season, finding the net after 30 seconds.
- He was also booked after 59 seconds for his celebration, the quickest yellow this season in the Premier League.
- This was only the sixth time Manchester United had conceded in the opening minute of a Premier League game. Gus Poyet, Jason Euell, Marlon Harewood, Jermain Defoe and Edin Dzeko were the other scorers.
- Only twice before had Jose Mourinho seen his side concede inside the first minute – both to Southampton while at Chelsea (James Beattie in 2004 and Jay Rodriguez in 2013).
- Manchester United have only collected fewer points from their first nine games of a Premier League season once before – in 2014-15 when they collected 13.
- Eden Hazard has equalled his goal tally from last season in the Premier League – four – in just nine games.
from Nigeria Newspaper- Nigeria News| Naija News http://ift.tt/2dO4QOY
via IFTTT
