Manchester United defeated Chelsea in the last match of Week 26 of the English Premier League. The final result was 0-2 for the guests.
Clinical United
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can be proud of his team, and the way they handled the Blues. Manchester was very direct, without stalling or complicating the game flow. Although they weren’t dominant on the pitch, the lethal approach was what separated them from Chelsea.
The scorers for United were Anthony Martial and Harry Maguire. Interestingly, both goals came after a header. The first one netted in the last minute of the opening halftime, following a perfect cross from Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Martial was faster than Christensen, sending the ball to the far right side of Willy Caballero’s net.
The most expensive defender ever scored after a corner kick in the 66th minute. He rushed into the middle of the box and beat Caballero with a fierce header, which was unstoppable.
In the meantime, Bruno Fernandes struck the post a few minutes earlier, and the guests started threatening through counter-attacks.
Chelsea meanwhile, had multiple chances to for scoring, but this time they failed to do it. Apart from their own mistakes, the biggest enemy of the hosts was VAR. The video checking system canceled two of their goals, one scored by Kurt Zuma and the other by Olivier Giroud, both in the second half. Both of them were after small, but evident, offsides.
Also, VAR wasn’t used in the situation when Maguire kicked Michy Batshuayi during the first half, and if the referee saw that, United’s defender would most definitely receive a red card.
As we already said, Chelsea had more of a ball possession some 62%, yet the Blues sent just one shot on target for 90 minutes. That was mostly because of a Batshuayi’s poor performance. Also, N’Golo Kante had to go out early after picking up an injury, and all this, no doubt, had a negative influence on Chelsea.
City’s Suspension Affects the Standings
With Manchester City out of the race for the Champions League, things will be even more interested in the EPL. At the moment, at least seven clubs will make a run for the UCL, because now, the fifth place also leads to the most prestigious competition in Europe.
Chelsea is fourth with 41 points, Tottenham has one fewer, while Sheffield Untied has 39. Manchester United sits seventh with 38, and Wolves have 36 same as Everton. Arsenal and Burnley collected 34 so far.
So we can expect a lot of excitement in the upcoming 12 rounds. Everything is different now, and even if some clubs believed that they couldn’t reach the Champions League, the situation now is completely changed.
Chelsea faces Tottenham in the next round also at Stamford Bridge in a battle, which might decide a lot of things in the end. This will be a special match because Jose Mourinho comes back to the place where he created history with the Blues.
On the other side, Manchester Untied awaits Watford at Trafford.
