Jose Mourinho hailed a “fantastic” performance from Marcus Rashford as Manchester United blew the Premier League title race wide open with a 2-0 victory over leaders Chelsea.
Goals at the start of either half from Rashford and Ander Herrera condemned Mourinho’s former side to their second defeat in four games.
The Blues’ lead over second-placed Tottenham is now down to four points with six games remaining, while United boosted their own hopes of reaching the top four by extending their unbeaten league run to 22 games.
The Red Devils are four points behind fourth-placed Manchester City, with a trip to the Etihad Stadium on the horizon on April 27.
Mourinho, though, praised the performance of 19-year-old forward Rashford and his team-mates for a dominant Old Trafford showing.
United boss Mourinho said of Rashford: “He played fantastically well, I think he did also a very good game at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup.
“Today he scored and it was at the beginning of the match which gave the team confidence and stability. The kid played fantastically well, but everybody fought and did what they had to do.”
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte blamed himself for the defeat, claiming he failed to motivate his players for the clash.
The Italian said: “I think they deserved to win. They showed more desire than us and more motivation, but in this case the fault is with the coach. In this case I wasn’t able to transfer the right motivation to play this type of game.”
United were ahead on seven minutes after Herrera had split the Chelsea defence with a perfect pass to Rashford, who swept home past Asmir Begovic.
Controversy preceded the goal as replays suggested the midfielder had handled the ball in the build-up, but Herrera protested his innocence.
Herrera said: “I didn’t want to touch the ball with my hand. I was running with my arms next to my body and I don’t know if the ball touched my arm or not, but it was not my intention.”
Herrera was deployed by Mourinho to man-mark Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard and did a sterling job throughout.
Rashford started up front in place of United’s top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic and impressed with his speed and movement.
Rashford added: “We’re a team, just missing one player it doesn’t cancel out everything that we’ve worked on throughout the week. Everyone together grafted to get the result.” Meanwhile, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp expressed his relief after their Reds’ victory at West Brom boosted their Champions League hopes.
Roberto Firimino’s header secured a 1-0 win to lift Liverpool up to third in the Premier League and helped end Tony Pulis’ hold over them.
It was Liverpool’s first win in eight attempts away at a Pulis side in the Premier League following Firmino’s first-half winner on Sunday.
Klopp’s men moved above Manchester City in the table and he admitted victory was crucial. “It’s really three very important points at a difficult place and that’s improved our base for the rest of the season, so I’m happy about this,” he said.
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