CHELSEA 4, MANCHESTER UNITED 0
- Pedro scores after just 30 seconds
- Critical errors by Chris Smalling and Daley Blind
- Eric Bailly suffers “serious knee ligament damage” in second half
- Jose Mourinho’s heaviest defeat in all competitions since Real Madrid lost 5-0 against Barcelona in November 2010
Jose Mourinho’s first return to Stamford Bridge since becoming Manchester United manager was spoiled by a 4-0 thrashing handed to the Portuguese by his former Chelsea players, leaving the Reds adrift in 7th place six points behind title rivals Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool and five behind Chelsea and Tottenham after nine games.
At the end, Mourinho exchanged some frank views with opposite number Antonio Conte for whipping up the Chelsea fans at the end of the game – an added humiliation for one who used to be held dear by the Stamford Bridge fans.
He had calmed down by the time he faced the media, and said that United had effectively started the game a goal down.
He said: “I don’t think we deserved this result at all. The match started 1-0 and Chelsea were given the chance to play the way they wanted.
“It was one of those games where they scored the goal, then we were close to the 1-1, they scored the second goal, we were close to the 2-1 then they scored the third goal, we were close to 3-1 then they scored the fourth and probably with a few more minutes they would score a fifth.
“Their players had more work than my players, we had chances and half chances but they were better at the counter attack.
“Everything went in their direction and we paid for our mistakes.”
United were missing Wayne Rooney who didn’t travel with the squad after sustaining a calf injury.
Only David De Gea, Eric Bailly, Paul Pogba, and Jesse Lingard retained their places in the team from United’s 4-1 win over Fenerbahce on Thursday.
And Mourinho confirmed that Eric Bailly had suffered serious knee ligament damage in a second half injury following a challenge with Eden Hazard during United’s horror defensive show.
And the otherwise anonymous Marouane Fellaini was subject to a nasty challenge on his knee by David Luiz which forced him off at half time.
Goals by Pedro, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante ensured that there was no happy return to the Bridge for Mourinho.
Mourinho had earlier admitted that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was “no friend” of his prior to today’s encounter, but the Russian billionaire won’t have cared as he celebrated an early 50th birthday present laid on by his expensively assembled Chelsea team.
It was all about poor defending as a lapse in concentration by Chris Smalling set out the template for the horror show that was to follow after just 30 seconds.
Smalling was caught napping as Pedro raced past him and Daley Blind to collect a Marcos Alonso pass and score past David De Gea.
Gary Cahill made it 2-0 after 21 minutes as United subsided at a corner when Antonio Valencia and Ander Herrera failed to clear the ball which made it to the Chelsea defender whose shot took a deflection off Daley Blind.
Eden Hazard, one of the Chelsea players with extra motivation to put one over his old boss, was the star of the show for Chelsea and he had already half volleyed wide from a corner in the first half as the home side firmly took a grip on the game against the Reds.
He won a free kick with some silky skills on show and a shot was blocked by Smalling after Victor Moses counter attacked from a Marcos Rojo mistake.
The Belgian was given plenty of time and space to exchange passes with N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic before slicing through the static United defence, rounding Smalling, and smashing home Chelsea’s third in the 62nd minute.
And Kante made it four, turning Smalling inside out after receiving the ball from Matic, who went unchallenged by either Pogba or Herrera, before beating De Gea with 20 minutes to go.
United had chances to pull a goal back throughout the game but they didn’t provide enough of a challenge for Thibaut Courtois who saved twice from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and also denied Herrera and Fellaini while their hosts were clinical in exploiting lax defending by the Reds.
It was hardly the ideal preparation for Wednesday’s EFL Cup encounter with Manchester City at Old Trafford but both teams will have work to do after recent 4-0 reverses on old stomping grounds for their managers.