Rashford shines, Man Utd defeats Chelsea

Playing in place of Ibrahimovic, the 19-year-old striker had an excellent performance, helping his team defeat their rivals for the first time this season with a score of 2-0.

Chelsea's best Premier League defense was helpless against Rashford. Photo: Reuters.

Goals: Rashford 8', Herrera 49'.

Jose Mourinho won his third game against his former club this season. With a fast, aggressive approach and the ability of his strikers to disrupt the opposition, Man Utd prevented their opponents from scoring. Marcus Rashford opened the scoring early in the first half, breaking the offside trap to receive a pass from Ander Herrera. Early in the second half, it was the Spanish midfielder's turn to score after a shot deflected off a Chelsea player.

The win helped Man Utd regain fifth place, maintaining a four-point gap with fourth-placed Man City while playing one game less. As for Chelsea, the gap between them and Tottenham after round 32 is only four points.

Chelsea received bad news before the match when Marcus Alonso was injured in the warm-up and could not play. Kurt Zouma was chosen to replace him, occupying the right wing of a three-man defence. Cesar Azpilicueta was promoted to the left wing. This disturbance had a significant impact on the tactics that Conte had planned. Azpilicueta had a poor match, often making mistakes while Zouma was too slow.

Chelsea's defense had trouble dealing with the harassment of the opponent's young, strong players. Photo: Reuters.

Man Utd did not attack the left wing, Zouma's position. They mainly attacked the ball on the right wing. The trio of Rashford, Herrera and Antonio Valencia repeatedly penetrated this wing, creating dangerous situations. They took advantage of the poor coordination between Gary Cahill, Azpilicueta and Nemanja Matic.

Starting the match without Ibrahimovic, similar to the defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals, Mourinho reserved the top two positions for Jesse Lingard and Rashford. This young duo did not disappoint the coach. Their enthusiastic playing style, not afraid to stick to the ball, and willing to retreat to their home field to compete helped to reduce the load on the midfield.

Rashford was a re-creation of his early days in the first team under Louis Van Gaal. The young Man Utd striker still lacked composure in some situations where he could have scored more goals, but his hunger in every step and his wildness made Chelsea defenders miserable. There were situations where Rashford used his strength to defeat famously strong Chelsea players such as N'golo Kante, Victor Moses or David Luiz.

Kante was the only bright spot on Chelsea's side. Photo: Reuters.

Another player who contributed greatly to this victory was Herrera. With a goal and an assist, the Spanish midfielder had situations where he won the ball from midfield, helping to block from a distance. Herrera played enthusiastically, attacking and defending, coordinating well with Fellaini and covering for Paul Pogba every time this player lost the ball or was in a position.

Despite the defeat, Kante still showed his ability. He continued to overshadow his junior Pogba in the expected battle in the midfield. Kante's passing accuracy rate reached 92%, the highest among the players who played the full 90 minutes and his number of successful tackles was only behind teammate Gary Cahill.

Mourinho used a three-man defense to counter Conte's three-man defense. He used Young and Valencia, two players with strong speed on the wings, and directed Herrera and Pogba to support the defense. This made it difficult for Moses and Azpilicueta to advance. Because Conte used two holding midfielders who both had a blocking tendency, Chelsea's ability to attack in the middle was very limited. Even when Cesc Fabregas was brought on after conceding the second goal, Chelsea's attack was still not improving.

Mourinho defeated Conte for the first time after two defeats. Photo: Reuters.

Without support from behind, Eden Hazard and Pedro often fell into a difficult situation every time they had the ball and were forced to choose to break through or cross inside, options that were not very feasible. Because Man Utd's defense played focused and received very good cover, Chelsea's counter-attacks could not surprise. As for Diego Costa, he was the player who lost the ball the most on the field and only left his mark in collisions with Man Utd players.

This could be one of Man Utd's most important victories this season. After two defeats that revealed their inferiority to their rivals, the "Red Devils" finally won, a victory that left a strong mark on Mourinho's tactics. This result is also a good psychological preparation for Man Utd before the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals against Anderlecht in the middle of next week.

According to VNE