Man United’s Special Records:- They Beat Chelsea Three Times This Season and are Still Behind Chelsea

Aston Villa played at home against Manchester United in the 34th round of fixtures for the season.

Full time at Villa Park. Aston Villa 0 – 3 Manchester United, courtesy of goals from star man Bruno Fernandes, shining youngster Mason Greenwood, and midfielder Paul Pogba, who had recently returned from a protracted injury spell.

United faced an initial lack of chances to break through a determined Villa side in the first half, but all it took was a controversial penalty following a foul on Bruno Fernandes, which he converted.

It all started to fall apart for Aston Villa later on, as United’s youngster Mason Greenwood smashed home a blistering shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner of the Villa goal.

In the second half, Paul Pogba converted a right-footed shot from outside the box, assisted by Bruno Fernandes following a corner.

With the away win over Aston Villa, they have now set a new record: they’ve become the first team in the Premier League to win by a difference of 3 – 0 in three consecutive matches.

This record comes following their away victory against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium in June, after which, in their next game, they fought back from a 1 – 0 deficit against relegation-threatened Bournemouth to win the game 5 – 2.

Aston Villa, by the way, are also currently facing the prospect of relegation following the loss to United.

The win against Aston Villa is the latest in a run of a total of 16 games in which the Reds have now gone unbeaten in all competitions this season, with their last defeat coming against Burnley in the Premier League in January of this year.

They’ve been on a clear path of resurgence in light of their acquisition of Bruno Fernandes earlier in the January transfer window.

The former Sporting CP man has spearheaded what is now by far the most resurgent comeback of the season, with his influence on the team being particularly significant due to a rather dismal start to the season they had to endure.

It was marked by periods of consistent inconsistency, wasted chances, injuries, and a lack of decisiveness in front of goal.

Manchester United fans will be happy with the club’s revival led by Fernandes, and this latest record they’ve set will see the United faithful gain bragging rights among other fans, as regards their support of such an entertaining team.

But some nagging questions remain.

For all the things they’ve achieved in the season, for all the clubs they’ve done the double over, for the records they’ve either equaled or set, for their resurgence:

Why are they still stuck in fifth position? Why can’t they move into the Champions League places?

They’ve been in Europa League positions for a better part of the season now, and for all the positivity they’ve inspired since the signing of Bruno Fernandes, they somehow can’t seem to clinch even the 4th position in the Premier League table.

Why?

If we look at it, for any football fan who’s not been following the Premier League lately, they could hear a lot of amazing things happening at Manchester United, with the way they’ve turned around their season and all, and they might immediately assume that United by now should at least be in the Champions League places.

But that’s clearly not the case, even after an amazing run of 16 games unbeaten in all competitions since January.

To understand why this issue of being in fifth place up till now is such a problem, let’s first look at all the amazing things they’ve done in the season.

1. They’ve done the double over Manchester City in the Premier League (beating them 2 – 1 at the Etihad Stadium, and 2 – 0 at Old Trafford).

And yet Manchester City have done far better than them in the season, so, for United fans, beating the Cityzens home and away is nothing to brag about.

2. They’ve equaled the Premier League’s all-time record for penalties given in a single season.

A total of 13 penalties have been awarded to Manchester United this season so far; and there’s a good chance they could go on to set a new penalty record.

3. They've beaten Chelsea three times in all competitions this season.

They thrashed Chelsea 4 – 0 at Old Trafford in the first match of the season, and in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge, the Blues lost again, 2 – 0. They also knocked them out of the EFL Cup.

4. They’ve become the first team to win three consecutive games by a 3 – 0 margin.

Against Brighton: 3 – 0;

Against Bournemouth: 5 – 2;

And against Aston Villa: 3 – 0.

Well, for the most part, nothing is to be taken away from any of these records; they are all well and good.

The problem begins when you realize that for all these records, especially the one they’ve set against Chelsea by beating them three times in the season, they are still behind Chelsea, who are now in third place, with United still in fifth, not even fourth.

Why?

To get the answer to this question, football fans, especially fans of United, need to understand that there is a key problem with Manchester United when it comes to their football:

Being the mostly wasteful side, which they have been especially in the earlier stages of the season, it can be said that they, more often than not, don’t take the chance, whenever they get it, to go up in the Premier League standings.

They fail to win crucial matches, and take key points. Especially when the team above them falters.

A key example of this can be seen here. Take Chelsea, for example.

Manchester United have clearly been the better of the two sides in the season, especially when it comes down to matches between them.

In the first game they played, United ran out 4 – 0 winners at Old Trafford, at the very beginning of the season.

In the next match between the sides in the EFL Cup, United won 2 – 1 to knock Chelsea out of the cup competition.

And in the reverse Premier League fixture between them, Chelsea, again, unfortunately were on the receiving end of a 2 – 0 score-line at home against the Reds.

So, Chelsea lost three times to United. And the trolling they received from the United faithful? Well, it was expected.

It got to a point where United stated on their official page on Twitter that they wished they could play against the Blues [again], following their first match at Old Trafford.

The point here? Chelsea may not have been very fortunate against the Reds in the season, but what has helped them do better statistically is, for one thing, they realize that Manchester United are not the only team around.

So, while they might lose against United, they win against a majority of other teams. They take crucial points where they matter.

For United, the reverse has been mostly the case: they have had the tendency to defeat at least four of the other top five teams, and then draw or lose against the smaller teams.

For Chelsea, their last game away at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace, one of the toughest games they’ve played in the season, is a testament to their decisiveness in key fixtures.

They were winning 3 – 2. The game had come down to its hottest in the dying minutes. Crystal Palace fought tooth and nail to draw the game level, even hitting the Chelsea post at the last minute, but the Blues survived that late scare from the Eagles to take all three points on the road.

That’s one advantage Chelsea have over United. They win, especially where it matters; whereas United, especially in the early stages of the campaign, would win one game, especially against a big side, and then fail to win the next. Inconsistency.

Again, we’ve had situations in the season where Chelsea would fail to win a match, and subsequently drop points.

All it would take for United to leapfrog them would be to win their own fixture, but then, they wouldn’t win. So, the points remained the same.

Then, when United would win a match that was supposed to help them leapfrog Chelsea, unfortunately, Chelsea would win their own fixture.

To sum it up, when Chelsea draw or lose and United have the chance to go up, they draw or lose their own match. When United now win the next match that should take them up, then Chelsea win, effectively keeping United behind Chelsea.

This is the problem that has been bugging the Reds for much of the season: inconsistency.

And that has been Chelsea’s one advantage over United this season. They are more consistent. They are always more likely to win where it counts.

United’s next game comes against Southampton, while Chelsea visit Sheffield United, and Leicester City, who are also still in fourth place above United, face Bournemouth at home.

If Manchester United please, they could defeat Southampton 3 – 0 and set another record, becoming the first Premier League team to win four consecutive matches by a 3 – 0 margin.

That won’t count for much if Chelsea defeat Sheffield United and Leicester win their away fixture against Bournemouth; they’ll still be in fifth position; and if this continues till the end of the current season, then they’ll set an unwanted record this time around:

That for all the hype they generated following their revival, for all the entertainment they provided as a team that could beat almost all the top six (home and away), they still couldn’t make the top four, and condemned themselves to play in the Europa League…

…while the seemingly lesser teams with no special records in the season (i.e. Chelsea and Leicester City) went to the UEFA Champions League, despite the unwanted records they set in the season, especially against Manchester United.

Why? By focusing less on in-match records and achievements, and concerning themselves with the real thing: winning their games where it really counted.