---
title: "Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: Where does this leave United?"
canonical: "https://readmanutd.com/2015/04/19/chelsea-1-0-manchester-united-where-does-this-leave-united/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
section: "Man Utd Match Reports"
published: "2015-04-19T15:35:10Z"
modified: "2015-04-21T15:41:05Z"
---

# Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: Where does this leave United?

**Manchester United’s winning streak of six consecutive games ended yesterday at Stamford Bridge, where they lost narrowly to Chelsea, league leaders and most probably champions of this Premier League season.**

The defeat itself wasn’t embarrassing but it showed the difference in approaches (philosophies) and development stages of Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal; United were the team who possessed the attacking initiative and did at least deserve to score a goal, but one string of precise passing from the Blues allowed Eden Hazard to score the only goal of the afternoon. United’s rivals Manchester City, who lost to United last weekend, closed the gap behind the third by winning against West Ham, which is now only one point.

Both City and United have to play five matches until the end of the season, but contrary to the latest results, atmosphere in the camps will be the opposite. Van Gaal stated that he is “proud of his team’s performance” for what he thinks was “the best this season” and he certainly won’t give major significance to one loss. The future of the club looks positive and the Reds will look to bounce straight back up with new triumph in seven-days-time away to Everton, who haven’t got much left to play for. On the other side, despite a seemingly easier list of fixtures for Manuel Pellegrini’s team, the pressure and fear of losing his job might disturb the Chilean in executing their traditionally strong finish.

Because of the participation in this year’s FA Cup semi-final, Arsenal will play one more game until June than their table rivals. The in-form Gunners have the longest streak of wins this season (eight) and they are safest bet to be runners-up, but with games against Chelsea and Man United still to play, Arsene Wenger’s team will have to maintain their good play if they want to finish ahead of United and City. Currently fifth in the table Liverpool will have to win at least five of their six games (four away) if they want to compete for top four finish, which looks highly unlikely.

In the ecstasy of beating City for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half years, some United fans have found their top three place secure and have almost written off their neighbours from the contention. A week after, things are looking little more serious and the possibility of having to play the play-off round of Champions League next season has increased. The job isn’t done; with tricky away fixtures to Goodison, Selhurst Park and KC Stadium left to play, United could lose their current 3rd place which would be a disappointing after amazing victories versus Tottenham, Liverpool and City.

Nonetheless, the future is in their hands and if United win all the remaining matches, including ones against West Brom and Arsenal at Old Trafford, they’ll end the campaign knowing they qualified for the group stage of UEFA Champions League, achieving the primary goal from the start of the season. If the Gunners fail to do the same, the Reds will become runners-up, which would be a massive boost and a prequel of (hopefully) van Gaal’s title charge.