Chelsea 4 United 0

Mourinho and United were unfairly criticised for alleged defensive tactics at Anfield but here, with a performance that sorely lacked any defensive discipline, the criticism the Reds will receive will be entirely warranted.

Whether United planned to contain or take the game to Chelsea we'll never know because it took only thirty seconds for the home side to score.  Confusion between Blind and Smalling allowed Pedro to sneak in and latch onto what was probably a misplaced pass to give his team the lead. 

Although the Reds offered some threat of their own, particularly through Valencia on the right, defensively they continued to look shaky and it was no surprise when Chelsea extended their lead.  United's inability to deal with a routine corner led to the ball falling to an unmarked Cahill, who stabbed home off Blind on the line.

Although the Reds pressed to get back into the game, they always looked vulnerable to Chelsea's counter-attacks and the midfield looked unable to control the game in the way they had for so much of the draw at Liverpool on Monday night.  Admittedly, Chelsea ought to have been a man down when an appalling challenge from David Luiz on Fellaini somehow resulted only in a yellow card.  However, there was no question that other things that didn't go their way in that first half were to a large degree of United's own making.

United were largely dominant in the early stages of the second half, but Chelsea continued to carry a threat on the break and when Hazard was allowed room in the box to drive his shot beyond De Gea it effectively ended the contest.  Then, when Kante found the same kind of space to drift into the area and score Chelsea's fourth, the scoreline became embarrassing.

The result leaves United some way off the pace in their pursuit of the Premiership's leading teams and the performance that yielded it will continue to raise questions about whether the Reds can be any more optimistic about Champions League qualification this season that they were last year.  As for Mourinho, he'll want to draw a line under this first visit to his former club as quickly as possible.