A victorious day for Chelsea and Samuel Eto’o, winning 3-1 against Manchester United, with David Moyes having yet another moment that he’d rather forget from this season, which included watching Nemanja Vidic getting sent off in the final minutes of the match.
Rafael wasn’t too far from getting a red card as well in injury time, but Dowd, maybe feeling like he was slightly harsh with Manchester United for sending off Vidic for his tackle on Eden Hazard, decided to give him only a yellow card for a wild two-legged challenge.
Chelsea started cautiously, looking to hit back on the counter attack. Manchester United, playing without their two best players, dominated possession, but looked powerless (and missing a bit of luck) up front. Eventually, Samuel Eto’o, in a rare Chelsea attack during those early minutes, took the ball from the halfway line, took a shot from just outside the box after some weak defending from the Manchester United midfield. It hit a defender and gave Chelsea the lead.
Manchester United kept on pressing, but their defending whenever Chelsea went on the counter through Willian and Eden Hazard was close to pathetic. A careless turnover gave Chelsea the chance to score the second goal – once again Samuel Eto’o, completely alone in the penalty box, finishing comfortably in front of David de Gea.
Things didn’t look better for Manchester United in the second half: Antonio Valencia did a poor job of covering Sameul Eto’o, Jonny Evans did a poor job of covering Gary Cahill. Cahill’s header was blocked by De Gea off a corner, but Eto’o was quick to score from the rebound, completing his hat trick.
Manchester United got their usual Javier Hernandez goal against Chelsea and a couple of chances from the Mexican after he came on (probably too late), but Mourinho was busy closing the match in the final 30 minutes, not really showing any intent of finding more goals. Nemanja Matic made his second debut for the club, but the bottom line was another Manchester United loss, their 7th this season.
Chelsea are back in second place, one point behind Arsenal and one ahead of Manchester City. Manchester United are 7th: 14 points behind Arsenal, six behind 4th place and only nine points above the relegation zone.