It was double joy for Manchester clubs on Sunday and despair for two London clubs, as Manchester United defeated Chelsea 2-1 at Old Trafford in the English Premiership, while Manchester City subdued Arsenal 3-0 to win the English League cup known as the Carabao Cup at Wembley.
On a sunny afternoon in Manchester, Morata led the attack, Willian earned a starting berth on d back of his midweek performance while Hazard returned to his favoured position on the wing. Paul Pogba and Martial also returned for Man United.
Chelsea’s positivity nearly paid off in the 5th minute, Hazard’s raking pass was met by a volleyed cross from Alonso to Morata, and the Spanish striker side-footed onto the bar while Willian’s follow up was tip over by De Gea.
Man United had nothing to show for their presence in the first quarter of the game apart from a lacklustre free kick delivery from expensive January signing, Alexis Sanchez.
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Victor Moses was seeing much of the ball on the wing, as United were set up to choke the middle of the pitch, however the Nigerian international’s final ball was lacking.
Mourinho and Conte have clashed several times already this season, and with next to nothing happening on the pitch, the Portuguese tactician tried having a conversation with his Chelsea counterpart but the Italian wanted none of it, focusing on the match.
Man United upped the tempo afterwards and were showing some attacking bite but Chelsea stinged the Red Devils with the opening goal in the 32nd minute. Willian and Hazard countered after the defensively-impressive Victor Moses won the ball. The Belgian’s through ball caught United’s defence out of position and found Willian in acres of space, the Brazilian catching De Gea at his near post to hand The Blues a well deserved lead.
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Man United responded five minutes before halftime through Lukaku’s brute force. The United point man won a aerial battle with Christiansen on the edge of the box and Martial’s pass found him on the penalty spot to hand the Old Trafford faithfuls a deserved equalizer going into the break.
Jose Mourinho’s men came out attacking in the second half, spurred on by over 60,000 fans and Pogba was bossing the midfield. Chelsea however had the first shot on target, Drinkwater’s shot from distance spilled by De Gea, while Willian blasted a trademark shot high and wide.
Mourinho rolled the dice first after the hour mark, the ineffectual Martial hauled off for Jesse Lingard. Lingard’s introduction freed Sanchez and the Chilean’s cross was met by a scissors kick from Lukaku which was tipped over impressively by the Chelsea keeper. Antonio Conte substituted his obviously tired talisman, Hazard and five minutes later United went ahead. Lukaku, who had been impressive all day, evaded two Chelsea players and placed a pin-point cross onto Lingard’s head and the England striker scored with Cortouis rooted to the spot.
Giroud and Fabregas were brought by Chelsea while Mourinho went ultra-defensive, Ivorian defender Bailey replacing Sanchez and handed Matic instructions on paper to see out the match. Mourinho’s instructions were carried out succinctly, his team going back to second on the EPL table with a well deserved victory, six points ahead of Chelsea who find themselves in fifth position due Tottenham’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace earlier in the day.
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In the Carabao Cup final, Arsene Wenger kept faith with David Ospina in goal and January signing Pierre Aubameyang led the attack, while Pep Guardiola also fielded a strong team and started reserve goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
The Gunners had a glorious opportunity to open scoring early, Jack Wilshere powering through the City midfield and Ozil’s cutback across goal led to a double save from Bravo.
Arsenal were matching City all over the pitch and closing down their expensively assembled opponent’s attempt to play their way out from the back. This lasted only 19 minutes in controversial circumstance when Sergio Aguero nudged Mustafi in the back while trying to defend a long kick from Bravo. The ball fell kindly for Aguero and he lobed Ospina to score his 199th City goal and put the Citizens 1-0 up. Manchester City dominated and Aguero almost got his second on 39 minutes, the 29-year old Argentine striker again lobbed Ospina from the byline but captain Koscielny cleared on the line and Kevin de Bruyne’s follow up was just wide.
Injury-prone City defender and captain Vincent Kompany almost doubled the lead on resumption of the second half but his shot in the area was deflected wide by an avelanche of Arsenal legs. The 31 years old captain rolled back the years to score the second on 58th minutes, the Belgian captain deflected in a Bernardo Silva shot from a shot corner he won. The Citizens pinned The Gunners in their own half, and two became three in a matter of minutes, Danilo’s tricky through ball to Spaniard, Silva, was guided in at the far post by the playmaker to give City an unassailable lead in the 65th minute, handing coach Pep Guardiola his first trophy in England.
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