Jose Mourinho schooled Antonio Conte in a thrilling encounter that threw wide the Premier League title race. After 90mins, it was the Red Devils that smiled with three points.
Before the game, Chelsea had enjoyed a good run of form, winning four of their last five games while United managed two wins out of five. The Blues were clear favourite ahead of the game but Jose Mourinho has revealed how his team got the better of the Blues.
Antonio Conte adopted a 3-5-3 formation that sees up to five players defending for Chelsea but the pace and power of Hazard makes them very dangerous on the counter attack. However, the Red Devils nullified all the threats of Chelsea and made them looked unclassy.
Mourinho has revealed that the approach of his boys was deliberate as he had studied Chelsea.
‘I want to say I was convinced even before the cup [last month’s FA Cup tie between the sides] that controlling the two players that played behind Diego [Costa],’ said the former Chelsea manager.
‘Sometimes Hazard, sometimes Hazard-Pedro controlling the position of these two players, and controlling the full-backs because they go really deep with two wide men would create them lots of problems.
‘And I repeat the same: They are phenomenal in counter-attack, and when they have the ball it’s more difficult for them and when they have the ball we are compact and when they try to play counter-attack we were always in control of these link positions.
‘Diego is very dangerous but the two link positions are the two positions we have to control. We did that at Stamford Bridge when we played with 11, with 10 it was more difficult and today we control.’
Man United moved to fifth position on the Premier League log, they are now four points adrift Manchester City in fourth but with a game in hand. The prospect of ending the season in the top four is apparent.
