Match date: 18 April 2015

The more-than-likely champions host the more-than-likely Champions League qualifiers. When the two sides met earlier in the season, they drew 1-1, with both sides looking to attack and Van Gaal having his midfield man-mark Chelsea’s midfield three.

Jose Mourinho put out his usual back four, but was forced to start Drogba in the absence of Diego Costa and Loic Remy. In midfield, Mourinho opted to start Kurt Zouma (who has a specific goal, which will be mentioned later) alongside Nemanja Matic in a 4-2-3-1.

Louis van Gaal was forced to make a number of changes from the side that beat Manchester City in Manchester United’s last match with Rooney moving back into midfield and Falcao starting at centre forward. Luke Shaw came in at left back for Daley Blind and Paddy McNair replaced Phil Jones alongside Smalling at centre back.

Zouma in Midfield, United Attack Left

Mourinho made the most telling of tactical moves in the game by starting Kurt Zouma in midfield alongside Matic despite Willian and Ramires both available. Zouma’s inclusion made sense for Mourinho’s defensive strategy, but the main reason for the Frenchman getting the start was because of the aerial threat that Fellaini poses. The Belgian midfielder was a huge reason for Manchester United’s success against Manchester City in their last match, with Yaya Toure allowing the Belgian space and passing him off to Kompany and, later, Demichelis, which allowed space to open up at the heart of Manchester City’s defense. Mourinho made sure that this would not happen to his team and so he enlisted Zouma to man-mark Fellaini.

Fellaini won the majority of headers against Zouma, as seen above, but Zouma’s presence deterred Manchester United from looking to play to the Belgian as well as the positions where the away side had the ball. Without pressure of Smalling and McNair, the centre back duo were able to move into the middle third of the field with relative ease and as Manchester United got into these positions, the aerial threat of Fellaini posed less and less of a threat and allowed Zouma to be freer in front of the back four. At times, however, this meant that Oscar was meant to get close to Fellaini, but this allowed Luke Shaw a lot of space to run into and have a significant presence on the left side of Manchester United’s attack.

Ashley Young also looked to move inside at times to allow Shaw even more space and the opportunity to get to the byline. Ivanovic struggled against Shaw in these positions with the left back easily getting by the Serbian, as he did against Shaw in the match earlier in the season. Shaw’s deliver into the box was mostly good and included an excellent chance early on for Rooney, who shot wide of Courtois’ goal.

Contrasting Attacks

At the end of the match, Manchester United had 71% of the ball, but struggled to break through Chelsea’s back four with any consistency and it took the away side longer into the match to record their first shot on goal than it did Chelsea, despite van Gaal’s criticisms after the match. As mentioned above, Luke Shaw created a number of good chances down the left as he attacked Ivanovic, but most of Manchester United’s shots on goal were from outside of the penalty area as Chelsea defended deep and did not allow space behind for Falcao to work into. The Colombian’s movement was far from great and his brightest spell came at the end of the match when he started to find spaces in the tiring Chelsea defence.

While Manchester United kept the ball very well, but failed to penetrate, Chelsea were very, very direct in their play going forward. They completed significantly less passes in the attacking third than Manchester United did, but their quick, direct play opened Manchester United up, with runs from deep catching the away side out a few times, including on the goal. Fabregas and Hazard both had good darting runs from midfield into the penalty area that unbalanced the Manchester United back four, with Ander Herrera’s defensive work not as disciplined as Michael Carrick’s usual contribution. Whenever the Chelsea duo got into the penalty area, they looked dangerous, but aside from the back heel from Oscar that led to the goal, the final pass was lacking.

Hazard and Drogba

The more-than-likely-player of the year had another great game for his side, securing the three points with a well taken goal after a good run from midfield. The Belgian found space very well when he had possession of the ball and made Chelsea’s counter attacks incredibly dangerous everytime he picked up the ball.

While Hazard had another great game, Drogba showed his age and why he is the third choice striker at Chelsea. He failed to offer an effective aerial target when Chelsea were looking to get out of their defensive third and he no longer has the pace and power to get in behind a back four. A lot of Drogba’s attempts at first time balls and flicks were wasteful and he looked to lack the experience that Mourinho brought him back to the club to provide.

Conclusion

Chelsea now have a ten point lead over Arsenal with six games left. It was a classic Mourinho performance; efficient, defensive, and effective. Van Gaal was incredibly frustrated after the match (despite saying the exact opposite) as evident by his post-match interview. The Dutchman thought Manchester United played their best match of the season, and this is true to an extent. They kept the ball really well and only conceded a couple of counter attacks, but they also conceded on a counter attack and managed just two shots on goal, both from outside the area.

Manchester United have an excellent run of form as of late and, while they put Chelsea under pressure, it will be interesting to see how they react to this loss with a Champions League place mostly, but still not fully secure.