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Conte Gets Himself Mourinho`d

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In domestic terms this was the big one. Never mind City, they`re out of sight. A victory for Chelsea would see them draw level with Manchester United on points. All was to play for.

The two managers had picked what they deemed to be their best sides, and despite their recent animosity shook hands ahead of kick-off.

It was Chelsea who started the game the better of the two. In typical Jose style, United sat back, waiting to see what Chelsea had to offer. It was so nearly quite a lot.

Chelsea should have taken the lead with four minutes gone. A volleyed Marcos Alonso cross was met close in by Alvaro Morata, who also took the ball on the full. With de Gea beaten all ends up, the ball cannoned back off the crossbar.

Eden Hazard`s follow up shot deflected off a defender and was tipped over by the busy United keeper. As the half progressed the possession stats evened out as United came more into the game. N`golo Kante received a yellow card for a somewhat cynical foul on Pogba as he looked to leave Kante`s patrolled area of the pitch.

With United asserting their home advantage to good effect, it was a Chelsea breakaway that delivered the game`s first goal. Willian started the lightning move in his own penalty area. A quick ball back from Moses set the in-form Brazilian on his way, having passed to Hazard, Willian carried on running, Hazards return pass found Willian in acres of space. His run into the United box finished by firing through David de Gea at his near post. It was poor from the Spanish keeper, who was left banging the ground in frustration.

The lead didn`t last long though and United were soon level through Romelu Lukaku. Some scrappy build up play on the edge of Chelsea`s penalty area saw the Belgian clash heads with Andreas Christensen. Having effectively immobilised the Dane, United`s front three played triangles around Chelsea`s remaining defenders, with Lukaku recovering to fire past Courtois from close range.

You can say the first half consisted of two teams matching their current form. At times it was scrappy, at times brilliant. Going into the halftime break though, it was Antonio Conte who would be the happier of the two managers.

Half-time Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea

There were no changes for either side during the break. The first real opportunity was once again created by Willian as he broke out of defence. His through ball found Morata, who, not for the first time, messed the move up.

Morata seems to be a player who does more when he doesn`t have the time to think too much. He`s an instinctive player. As the game progressed through the half, Chelsea were still looking dangerous on the break. They weren`t sitting back conceding possession as they did against Barcelona, just breaking quickly when possible.

That outlet was generally Willian. As the Brazilian tired during the half, they looked less likely to force a goal. A Danny Drinkwater effort, from distance nearly caught de Gea out when the ball bounced just in front of the Spaniard, but he managed to scramble the ball clear.

Midway through the second half, the game stagnated to walking pace for a period. United were there for the taking but Chelsea, but you couldn`t help but feel the moment was passing.

With 73 minutes gone and the clock winding down Pedro replaced Eden Hazard, two minutes later and United led, when Lukaku crossed for Lingard to head home, having lost his marker.

Conte`s reaction was to take Moses off, bringing on Olivier Giroud. It was a bit like shutting the gate after the horse had bolted. Chelsea were left chasing a game they should already have won.

With a goal to the good, Mourinho looked to shut up shop replacing Sanchez with Bailly. Conte replaced Drinkwater with Fabregas. Edging into the final minutes of a frustrating afternoon for Chelsea fans was made worse as Mourinho inevitably turned the screw.

The bus he used to such great effect with Chelsea, had now been sprayed red and was positioning it in fronts de Gea`s goal. Part of that process included breaking the play up with niggly fouls. That caused tempers to fray, thus wasting yet more time.

Morata had a goal disallowed, that was shown to be just onside, but it was small margins. Harsher was referee Martin Atkinson’s decision, shortly after to yellow card Morata for well executed tackle from behind in which he actually got the ball.

But, as the game petered out to a deserved United win. Chelsea had been truly Mourinho`d. United were poor in the first half and Chelsea didn`t take advantage of that. They left Old Trafford with their just desserts. In the end it was Mourinho and United that deserved the win, but Conte and Chelsea should have had the game won in that first half.

Overall poor from Conte and Chelsea.

Full time Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea

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