Manchester United travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday to face Chelsea with both sides enduring difficult seasons. Louis van Gaal's side sit fifth in the Premier League, five points outside of the UEFA Champions League places. Meanwhile, the Blues are 13th, having sacked Jose Mourinho and replaced him with Guus Hiddink in December. The two sleeping giants only met last on December 28 but will go at it again as they seek to turn around their stuttering campaigns. Previous seasons have seen a number of highly entertaining and significant games between the pair, often neck and neck at the top of the table. With United and Chelsea fans nostalgic for the glory years pre-2016, here are five of their best clashes. Gianluca Vialli's Chelsea side put a swift and emphatic end to the visitors' 29-game unbeaten run in a game Manchester United fans would most certainly rather forget. Gus Poyet capitalised on a Massimo Taibi howler to put the Blues ahead after just 27 seconds, with things going from bad to worse for United from there. Nicky Butt saw red after a clash with Dennis Wise before goals from Chris Sutton, Poyet, Jody Morris and a Henning Berg own goal completed the rout. Sir Alex Ferguson's side recovered from the heavy defeat to lift the Premier League trophy in May, while Chelsea claimed the FA Cup after a 1-0 win over Aston Villa at Wembley. Manchester United ended Chelsea's 40-match unbeaten run with a 1-0 win at Old Trafford in November 2005. Darren Fletcher was the unlikely scorer of the game's only goal, sending a looping header over Petr Cech to consign Jose Mourinho's side to a rare defeat. Chelsea, however, were to have the last laugh that season... Chelsea lifted their second successive Premier League title after beating second-placed Manchester United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho's men went into the game knowing they needed only a point to secure the trophy but took all three thanks to goals from William Gallas, Joe Cole—a wonderful solo effort—and Ricardo Carvalho. The Blues' post-match celebrations were marred slightly by concern for United forward Wayne Rooney[1] after the England star was stretchered off in the game's final minutes a matter of weeks before the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Manchester United laid down an early marker in the Premier League title race with a highly entertaining 3-1 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford. It was a game in which the scoreline told only part of the story. United raced into a three-goal lead by half-time with goals from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney, while the Blues missed a number of clear-cut chances of their own. However, there was one miss in particular for which the game was to be remembered. Fernando Torres[2] had already pulled one back for Chelsea and seemed certain to grab another when he rounded David De Gea to expose an open goal with time fast running out. However, the Spaniard somehow contrived to skew the ball horribly wide, registering one of the worst misses in living memory. It was a gaffe that perfectly summed up Torres' time at Chelsea. Manchester United put one of the final nails in Andre Villas-Boas' Chelsea coffin as they came from three goals down to claim a draw in February 2012. Sir Alex Ferguson's side hadn't won at Stamford Bridge in over a decade and looked well on their way to another defeat when a Jonny Evans own goal and efforts from Juan Mata[3] and David Luiz put Chelsea 3-0 up within 50 minutes. But Wayne Rooney's brace got United back in the game with time still on the clock, allowing Javier Hernandez to head home a dramatic late equaliser and complete a memorable comeback. Villas-Boas was sacked as Chelsea manager less than a month later, while Manchester City pipped Manchester United to the title on a dramatic final day in May.
References
- ^ Wayne Rooney (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ Fernando Torres (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ Juan Mata (bleacherreport.com)
