Chelsea have had their lead-gap at the top of the Premier League table cut down to just four points after the Blues suffered an upsetting 2-0 loss against Manchester United, while Tottenham hammered Bournemouth 4-0.
An early first-half goal from Marcus Rashford put the hosts into a strong position right from the beginning, and Ander Herrera’s strike at the beginning of the second period to put the hosts two ahead was the end of story for Antonio Conte’s men, who failed to register a single shot on target.
Here are five take-outs from Chelsea’s defeat against Manchester United yesterday.
1. We can’t survive from injury set-backs forever
Overall, Chelsea have enjoyed a very injury-free season, with quite a few occasions where an injury or two had somehow changed the outcome of the game.
Well, yesterday was one of those few moments. Thibaut Courtois was ruled out due to an ankle problem already before the team travelled to Manchester, but while Chelsea had time to prepare for that, Antonio Conte was forced to make some very quick changes to his tactics following Marcos Alonso’s injury in the pre-match training 30 minutes before kick-off.
Kurt Zouma was then named into the starting eleven with Cesar Azpilicueta taking Alonso’s place on the left wing-back’s role. On the paper it was the best choice Conte could make, but it only took seven minutes for the system to be broke and cost us a goal.
2. Chelsea need to learn to bounce back quicker
It’s never nice to go down early on, but when that happens, the whole team needs to get their attacking focus on point.
On our defence, Chelsea haven’t got used to going down early – and quite rarely even conceding first – but when that has happened, we haven’t been able to bounce back the way we should. Yesterday the players got frustrated and failed to take control of the game that on a better day could’ve been easily done.
3. Mourinho got one over Conte by man-marking Hazard
Conte was asked ahead of the game whether he had any plans on attempting to solve United’s man-marking on Eden Hazard.
Conte said he had no plans for him despite the Belgian being the most fouled player in both previous occasions between the two sides this season, and finally – the third time they met – Mourinho had a plan to stop Hazard. That plan was called Ander Herrera.
As much as I hate to use this phrase, Herrera – who was probably told to do nothing but keep Hazard away from the United third – simply pocketed Hazard and made Chelsea’s leading force inoperative. Mourinho had learned from the previous two games and this time he got one over our man Conte.
4. Nemanja Matic needs to find his form again
Cesc Fabregas has deservedly found his place from the Chelsea starting eleven recently, but after a few more silent games, it seems like Matic has returned to take his place back.
It’s a shame because even though he was all right against Bournemouth, he has mainly been played from the bench in the past weeks. That signals how he might not have been ready for a big game like this and therefore succeeded very, very poorly.
https://twitter.com/CFCNewsApp/status/853915765250158592
Maybe Conte isn’t fully trustworthy with either one, only having his complete faith in N’Golo Kante. If you ask me, we should be doing our best to find that Kante n.o 2 for Conte to exploit this summer.
5. Title race got its biggest twist yet
The title is Chelsea’s to lose. Our 10-point lead from the start of April has now been sliced to just four, which puts the biggest pressure on us.
Of course, Spurs are still the one chasing and we’re the one ‘safe’, but the fact that we were unable to respond to their victory over Bournemouth really makes things lot more interesting.
On the paper, Chelsea have an easier-looking run-in than Mauricio Pochettino’s party, with the Blues playing four of their last six games home, whilst Spurs are visiting four and have to face sides such as United and Arsenal.
The three points for United also open the doors for them to catch top four, which Chelsea fans obviously don’t want to see. In the end, Mourinho’s maiden season at Old Trafford has been just so awful hasn’t it!? Not so sure about that anymore.
