In the last matchday before the international break, there was a prevailing belief that the Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was living on borrowed time. Playing at Old Trafford his side had gone behind 2-0 to a struggling Newcastle United side and the discontent around the theatre of dreams was palpable. The second half, however, changed that as Manchester United showed the resolve that they were once famous for as they came back to win the match 3-2.
That result bought Mourinho time although there was no let-up for the Portuguese manager as Manchester United were due to play away to Mourinhos side Chelsea in the first match after this break.
This is after all a Chelsea that appear revitalised by the introduction of the former Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri in the summer. His style of play is the polar opposite of what the Chelsea faithful saw at Stamford Bridge under his compatriot and predecessor Antonio Conte. Indeed Chelsea have quickly adopted the characteristics that we saw from Napoli whilst Sarri was in charge, they dominate possession around the metronomic passing of the Brazilian born Italian international Jorginho but play with an incisiveness that is befitting a team that can boast the Belgian winger Eden Hazard in the final third.
The narrative for this match then was set early. If Manchester United were to continue to build on the momentum of those second 45 minutes against Newcastle then they will have to find a way to neutralise the passing patterns of Chelsea and to stop the dangerous Eden Hazard from dictating the play from his position wide on the left.
Team News
There was little by the way of a surprise in the team news from the home side, the biggest question surrounded the lone striker role with the Spaniard Alvaro Morata being picked ahead of the French striker Oliver Giroud, the latter had played 90 minutes for his country in midweek.
We saw Sarri continue with his midfield triumvirate of Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and NGolo Kante with the latter continuing to be used as an 8 moving into more advanced areas.
For the visitors, we
