Manchester United ran out comfortable 2-0 winners over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday night to book our place in the quarter-finals of this season’s FA Cup.
Man of the match Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba headed home our goals in the first half whilst goalkeeper Sergio Romero was only forced into two saves all game – both in the opening 11 minutes.
Credit needs to go to our defensive display too as Gonzalo Higuain, Eden Hazard and Pedro were tamed for 90 minutes.
Ashley Young and Ander Herrera did an excellent number on Hazard and Luke Shaw handled Pedro superbly. In the middle of our defence, Chris Smalling was making only his second appearance under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and only his second appearance in 2019, alongside Victor Lindelof.
The England international was superb throughout the game – making numerous interceptions and clearances from in and around our own penalty area.
Speaking after the game in an interview with the BBC, our caretaker manager for full of praise for the centre-back:
“Chris [Smalling] has been out two months and just played one game and he was brilliant.”
This performance will give the boss something to think about heading into Sunday’s game against Liverpool at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
Ole left Eric Bailly on the bench on Monday night whilst Phil Jones was left at home – meaning he has a choice of four centre-backs to choose from for the remainder of the season, all of have been reliable to him so far.
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