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What Chelsea Did Right vs Manchester United

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In the early hours of Saturday morning Stamford Bridge played host to two of the Premier League’s biggest names. Michael Carrick saw the pressure around him ramp up as his Manchester United side’s wasteful first half turned into a dismal 2-0 defeat that could have easily been more. Xabi Alonso and Chelsea came away as the clear winners in the end, but how did they do it? We’ll be discussing some of the details of what the manager did right to come away with this one.

Why Chelsea Beat Manchester United in The Premier League

Xabi Alonso's Chelsea press conference

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Pivot Positioning

With Jordan Henderson out and the Red Devils pressing hard from the front, the midfield set up in a different combination than we have seen recently. When it is Moises Caicedo with Henderson, they’re trusted to be further apart and drift as needed which in some games has created big gaps that the players couldn’t get by.

This time around, Alonso had Caicedo and Romeo Lavia very close together. This is a holdover from his Bayer Leverkusen team where the two midfielders would remain close together and keep possession. It worked to a treat here as Lavia had an absolute masterclass, allowing the attackers and wide defenders to spread the back line and create openings.

Pedro Neto As the 9

The last two defeats for the Blues had one commonality: bad striker performances. Morgan Rogers was moved there against Tottenham Hotspur but it was a largely failed experiment. Danny Welbeck got his chance against Liverpool in the cup and ghosted in a mostly mediocre display. When the lineup dropped this time, it looked worryingly like Rogers was going to play as the furthest attacker again.

That wasn’t to be the case. Pedro Neto led the line for the team and did an adequate job of running at the back line to make space for his teammates. Neto’s pace and workrate provides a difficult problem for opposing defenders, especially in the centre. He was consistently getting the ball centrally and occupying the back line so the attackers around him could move around and find space.

He put in a great shift in the press, covering almost 10 km and made life difficult for the Red Devils to play out, particularly in the second half, where the midfield was winning the ball more often and transitioning into attack.

Cole Palmer

In recent outings, one of the big issues has been the poor utilisation of Cole Palmer. It isn’t the Mauricio Pochettino era anymore; the days of him getting that many goals and assists are largely gone, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t vital to how the Blues play. He was the connector in this match, he was the solution anytime the pivot needed to find an option going forward.

Palmer combined with Josh Acheampong and Estevao on the right to let the Brazilian stay high and wide to get into dangerous attacking areas consistently. His range of passing and dribbling allowed for overloads to be created, freeing Rogers to work in space and drift along the left half-space.

The Englishman pulled the strings unlike when he was pushed further forward against the Lilywhites last week. While the absence of Joao Pedro is going to create a hole in the attack, it can’t be filled by pushing Palmer further forward, he needs to remain as the puppet master connecting the phases if this team wants to achieve its goals.