Alvaro Morata gave Manchester United a taste of what could have been by heading Antonio Conte’s Chelsea to a much-needed victory as Jose Mourinho endured another frustrating Stamford Bridge return.
Having seen an early Phil Jones own goal ruled out because of his foul, Morata capitalised on lacklustre United defending to superbly head home Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross in the 55th minute.
Aside from Morata’s goal scoring exploits, one of the men at the centre of Chelsea’s dominance was Cesc Fabregas.
Here, we look at the Spaniard’s performance in-depth.
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Shots – 1
Dribbles – 2
Passes – 78
Key passes – 6
Pass Accuracy – 83.1%
Tackles – 2
Interceptions – 2
Touches – 94
Fabregas produced a man-of-the-match display in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Man United.
The Spaniard was a constant thorn in Jose Mourinho’s side, picking the Red Devils apart with his incisive passing and slick movement.
With 78 passes, two interceptions, two tackles, as well as creating six chances, the 30-year-old was Chelsea’s most influential attacking threat.
He looked confident in a three man midfield with N’Golo Kante and Tiemoue Bakayoko – and was allowed the necessary space to fashion opportunities for Eden Hazard, Andreas Christensen and Alvaro Morata during a tight opening 50 minutes.
He was unlucky not to register his own goal early in the first half, when heading the ball into the side netting, but was nonetheless a sparkling presence under the bright lights of Stamford Bridge.
18 mins – Eden Hazard cut inside following a short corner, and struck the ball at David de Gea, who did enough to push the ball out. Fabregas collected the rebound but headed his effort into the side netting.
32 mins – Attempted to slip the ball into Alvaro Morata but the striker’s low shot failed to trouble de Gea.
34 mins – Chelsea started to look dominant on the ball and Fabregas was again at the fore of the attack, as he tried to chip it into Morata but the ball ran long.
40 mins – Whipped in a corner as Andreas Christensen rose above Ander Herrera to shoulder the ball over the bar from six yards.
54 mins – Dinked a cleverly weighed cross in from the left for Hazard who shot straight at de Gea from 15 yards.
78 mins – The magnificent Spaniard was replaced by Danny Drinkwater with 12 minutes remaining.
Dictated play throughout the match and never looked out of place.
He was allowed time to offload his passes and always made the right decisions.
Despite missing a key chance in the first half, Fabregas was at the heart of Chelsea’s attacking play and had the most touches out of any other player on the pitch.
All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com.
