Alvaro Morata gave Manchester United a taste of what could have been by heading Antonio Conte's Chelsea to a much-needed victory as Jose Mourinho endured another frustrating Stamford Bridge return.
All eyes were on the touchline as the combustible managers faced off, with Manchester City's latest win leaving United eight points off the Premier League summit as pressure mounted on Conte just months after leading the Blues to the title.
The Italian twice got the better of Mourinho at Stamford Bridge last season and made it a hat-trick in a tense encounter on Sunday, with Morata's fine header giving Chelsea a deserved 1-0 win against second-placed United.
It looked like the Spain international would instead be wearing red until Mourinho completed a summer move for Romelu Lukaku, whose goalless streak stretched to a seventh match as the Chelsea striker brought his scoreless run to a timely halt.
Having seen an early Phil Jones own goal ruled out because of his foul, Morata capitalised on lacklustre United defending to superbly head home Cesar Azpilicueta's cross in the 55th minute.
It was no less than Chelsea deserved as they pressed the issue against an increasingly ramshackle United, although Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellaini went close to snatching a fortuitous point as the clock wound down.
Conte's position has been the subject of scrutiny after a mixed start to his second season as head coach.
He ran on to the pitch to celebrate at full-time, but insisted his reaction was down to the magnitude of the opponent.
He said: "I was very happy because we beat a strong team like Manchester United. To have this type of performance and to see this spirit, for sure I'm pleased.
"We have to continue and to understand if there is this spirit, this enthusiasm, this passion, we can fight for something important."
There is no love lost between Conte and Mourinho, who preceded the Italian as Chelsea boss. The pair shook hands pre-match but not at the end of the game.
Conte added: "I think that shaking hands two times is enough."
Mourinho said: "You don't want me to go and to chase him in the middle of the pitch.
"There is no problem with it at all. You [the media] are always worried with this thing."
Despite falling further adrift of City after 11 games, Mourinho refused to rule out a title challenge with key players soon to return from injury.
The United boss said: "We are worried, but there are 18 teams more worried than us.
"Eight points in the Premier League, there is still a lot to play [for]. I hope, I feel, I think, I wish that in the busy period of late November, December, beginning of January, I think probably we are going to be at our maximum strength, with [Paul] Pogba back, Ibra [Zlatan Ibrahimovic], Marcus Rojo back. Probably we can be on a high."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here