Cesc Fabregas feels that Jose Mourinho’s plan worked extremely well

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas feels that Jose Mourinho’s plan worked extremely well in the recent 1-0 victory over Manchester United.

This win and the three points that it brought has moved Chelsea closer towards their first Premier League in five years. A major part of the plan involved in negating the threat of United midfielder Marouane Fellaini, who has been a major reason behind the club’s impressive form in the last month. Opposition have been unable to cope with the physicality offered by the Belgian international, but Chelsea did so by using defender Kurt Zouma in this position.

Normally, Fabregas would be playing as the defensive midfield alongside Nemanja Matic. Against United, Mourinho went with the physical threat of bothZouma and Matic in order to counter the threat ofFellaini. This plan worked extremely well, asFellaini had little influence on the game. This in turn helped Chelsea keep the opposition to only a handful of chances throughout the 90 minutes despite conceding more than 70% of the possession. Fabregas has admitted that he would have struggled very largely against the physical presence ofFellaini if he had been used in the defensive midfield position. As it is, the victory sees Chelsea move within two victories of a league title.

"If I played there normally I would struggle a bit more to deal with long balls and the physical aspect of the game.We had to put someone on Fellaini, especially for the long balls, so yes our style changed. I thought Zouma did extremely well.I think his future is as a centre-back but he can do the job very well in central midfield when it's needed. He's a top, top boy. He wants to learn, he wants to play. That's why Mourinho is who he is and has won what he has won. The plan worked very well," said Fabregas.