Antonio Conte recorded his most emphatic Premier League victory to date as Chelsea capitalised on a defensive horror show from Manchester United that could hardly have been further removed from their assured display at Liverpool six days earlier.
For the third time in three games, the Italian's 3-4-3 delivered three points and a clean sheet -- this time it was 4-0 -- yet Jose Mourinho was also right to lament how United's early blunder, committed after 29 seconds, created a game situation suited to Chelsea's qualities. Cranked into top gear by a frenetic Conte, the hosts stayed compact and kept forcing errors -- particularly near a tormented Daley Blind -- with Gary Cahill later scoring from a corner.
Meanwhile, their well-drilled defensive block ceded no space to United between the lines nor any chances to run in behind the backline. Chelsea were particularly solid down their right where Cesar Azpilicueta provided mobile cover behind Victor Moses, and so United's only weapon turned out to be right-back Antonio Valencia, who delivered a series of dangerous crosses.
That was hardly satisfactory for Mourinho, who sent on Juan Mata for Marouane Fellaini at half time to go 4-4-2. That helped United apply more pressure, but Chelsea remained resolute and put two more past an exposed defence.
"If we could delete the defensive mistakes, the performance was good," said Mourinho.
Sadly for him, that "if" was far too large to make this display defensible.
Fluent Chelsea trouble Blind
Given how desperate Mourinho will have been to avoid defeat on his return to Stamford Bridge, the early lapse is likely to have undermined his game plan severely. Blind let Pedro run onto a long ball from Marcos Alonso, as did a sleeping Chris Smalling, and Pedro collected it to score. That set the tone for an error-strewn performance.
United were now forced to come forward, but their pressing could be ponderous, particularly with Fellaini in midfield, and there were times when they were outnumbered centrally, with Chelsea having three central defenders and two central midfielders up against three central midfielders and a lone striker. On two occasions, Azpilicueta was left free to run into midfield and swing in deep crosses that posed problems.
Still, the main issues was how Chelsea players drifted towards the right. United were practically defending in a 6-3-1 since their wingers tracked the Chelsea wing-backs, which meant the United full-backs were supposed to mark Eden Hazard and Pedro. But Hazard wandered freely and left Valencia unable to follow. That was relevant on 13 minutes, when he and Pedro combined in a move that Eric Bailly frantically cleared ahead of Diego Costa. From the ensuing corner, Hazard was allowed to fire just wide unmarked, leaving Mourinho exasperated on the touchline.