Kante sinks Man United as Chelsea march towards the double

Jose Mourinho’s standing among the Chelsea fans had taken a hit when he joined bitter rivals Manchester United.

During the game, Mourinho who was subjected to taunts from the home fan responded by holding up three fingers- in reference to the three Premier League titles he won as Chelsea coach.

“They are two different players with different characteristics”, the Chelsea manager said. Despite their fine form, they sit sixth in the league table, 17 points behind the runaway leaders.

Mourinho’s frustration boiled over at times and the Portuguese and Italian Conte had to be separated after an angry exchange shortly after Herrera’s sending off.

Mourinho, who lost 4-0 on his return to Stamford Bridge with United last October, said that playing his former club did not provide any extra motivation. Barring the rare “brain-fade” moment during the post-match interview after Chelsea’s 1-3 loss to Liverpool during his latest spell in London, back in 2015.

Mourinho, in the days he managed Chelsea, spoke out bitterly to protest the treatment to which hazard was subjected. David de Gea had made a couple of outstanding saves in the first half to keep out Hazard and Gary Cahill but this time the ball swerved into the bottom corner.

The approach came completely unstuck in the 35th minute, when Ander Herrera was given his marching orders after receiving a second yellow card.

Oliver told FA bosses earlier on Tuesday that he witnessed the incident but decided it did not warrant any further action. But, for sure, it’s normal when you play these types of games and there is a good target to reach, and everyone tried to do their best for their own team.

And one individual battle that we can’t wait for is N’Golo Kante vs Paul Pogba.

And it worked well, with playmakers Hazard and Willian denied the space they crave to create, meaning that Costa was starved of service, and Chelsea struggled to exert consistent attacking pressure during the opening half hour.

Jose Mourinho took questions from the BBC’s Dan Walker after the game, while visibly and understandably frustrated, and dodged questions about the refereeing performance by hastily pouring praise on the travelling Manchester United faithful and his players.