Manchester United looked to be losing the previous game against Newcastle when they went 2-0 in the first half. However, the Red Devils managed to turn things around in the second half with the goals from Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and Alexis Sanchez.
Now Jose Mourinho will take his players to Stamford Bridge for facing Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea. Level on points with Liverpool and Manchester City, Chelsea is likely to be a big test for Mourinho and Manchester United.
Match at Stamford Bridge
In November 2017, Manchester United visited Stamford Bridge with the hope of closing the gap with rivals Manchester City. However, Manchester United suffered one more defeat at Chelsea’s home. Although the match saw a very close contest between Mourinho’s United and Conte’s Chelsea. Both Lukaku and Hazard tried their best to get the lead for their teams with both failing to score a goal.
In the 55th minute of the game, Chelsea broke the deadlock with a superb header from Alvaro Morata. Mourinho tried his best to get back in the game by bringing in Anthony Martial and Marouane Fellaini but the scoreline did not move. This was Mourinho’s third successive defeat at Stamford Bridge.
Old Trafford encounter
When Chelsea visited Old Trafford in February 2018, Mourinho equaled scores with Antonio Conte. However, it was far from an easy victory for the home side. In fact, Chelsea were the better side in the early part of the game.
In the 32nd minute, Willian fired the ball past David De Gea to give an early advantage. But then Romelu Lukaku rose to the occasion and provided the equalizer before the second half. Lukaku looked threatening to score in the second half too, but the goal came off the feet of substitute Jesse Lingard. With this victory, United rose to the second place while Chelsea was left in fifth place in the table.
FA Cup final
For Manchester United fans, the result of this match was very disappointing. Everyone was expecting that the season would not go trophyless for United when they reached the FA Cup final to face Chelsea. However, United could not win the Wembley match and hence the title went to Stamford Bridge.
The costly mistake of Phil Jones proved decisive for the match. His tackle brought down Hazard and hence Chelsea got the penalty. The penalty was taken by Hazard himself who easily scored the goal for his team. Manchester United tried several times to get an equalizer but they did not succeed with Chelsea defending very well. This was particularly painful for Jose Mourinho because he and Conte shared a special animosity towards each other throughout the season.