The last time Manchester United picked all 3 points on offer at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea was in October 2012. We witnessed the retirement of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher, the election of Hugo Chavez by Venezuela for a fourth term, human rights activist Malala Yousafzai being shot 3 times by a Taliban gunman and Taylor Swift releasing her fourth studio album titled Red within this period. That is 6 years without joy at the Bridge.
This is not the type of game you want to play in after an international break, especially when your team has decided not to stand up and be counted along with the Elites in the English Premier League. My beloved Manchester United team traveled to London to face arguably the most in form team in the league at the moment in Chelsea.
Maurizio Sarri has gotten Chelsea to start playing beautiful football again and to be honest I was sincerely hoping for a draw at the least, not that we would deserve a draw judging by the lads’ on and off display this term.
I was wary of Eden Hazard who was top scorer in the league before kick off, a certain N’golo Kante who never tires out, Willian who has the ability to also change the face of any game and the sneaky Marcos Alonso. Keep these four out and the outlets by which the Blues could use to outwit Man Utd would be decimated (I like to think I know football that well).
As expected Chelsea dominated possession and judging by the unimpressive performances my team have been able to put out this season, I was not surprised. I did not just want them to get annihilated. The Blues drew first blood in the 21st minute through Antonio Rudiger who headed the ball past David De Gea in goal for United from a well taken Willian corner kick. Willian was a problem to be honest. Chelsea continued to heap pressure on Manchester United but first half closed with that lone goal.
Jose Mourinho must have gone into the break with a horse whip because the United that turned up for the second half were absolutely more purposeful. Their hard work paid off with Anthony Martial putting the Red Devils level in the 55th minute. Chelsea laboured to score a second but it was United who got lucky. Tony Martial hit a second one in to make scores 2-1 in favour of United.
At this point I was so confident of victory. I was chatting with one of my buddies and when he was of the opinion of it is not over until the final whistle is blown, I was like it looked like we had the 3 points in the bag already. I spoke too soon. Ross Barkley grabbed an equalizer for Chelsea in the 6th minute of added time. It was a big blow for me.
Some would say we were lucky to have gotten a point but I like to believe we were hard done by this scoreline. I maintain that Man Utd is going to lose just one of these 4 games (Chelsea, Juventus in 2 Champions League games and Man City). We have played out a draw with Chelsea already. We wait for the rest.
Whatever issue Jose Mourinho had with Chelsea’s assistant coach, Marco Ianni is his business because he’s done that and worse but what I didn’t like was the fans taking a swipe at the Portuguese. Very WRONG. He was the pioneer of Chelsea’s modern day success, he deserves RESPECT.
In all it was a horrible weekend of football for the teams I follow. Newcastle, Real Madrid, Aberdeen and Courteville FC were beaten. Juventus and Manchester United could only manage a draw. Aston Villa however were the only victors this weekend and Kano Pillars did not play as the Nigerian League is currently on a break.
Thanks for your time guys.
[…] prediction series. I had predicted Man Utd would be losing just one of four games in one of my previous posts. The games were Chelsea and Manchester City in the Premier League and Juventus home and away in the […]