This Week in Stats: United win the Mourinho-Conte grudge match

Manchester United took a big stride toward a top four finish at Chelsea’s expense. Manchester City won the Carabao Cup and Brighton got a big win.

Prior to kickoff, both Manchester United and Chelsea still had four games to play against fellow big-six teams. It was vital not to lose, and a draw looked on the cards for most of the second half.

After 73 minutes Antonio Conte withdrew Eden Hazard for Pedro, but two minutes later Jesse Lingard scored the winner.

Hazard leaving the field didn’t contribute to the decisive goal, but he might have been useful when chasing an equalizer.

The Belgian created four chances, including the assist for Willian’s goal, when no other player laid on more than two. He was also comfortably Chelsea’s top passer in the final third. Lots of the visitors’ best moves flowed through Hazard, as they often do.

Chelsea rarely score first and lose. They had won all 15 league matches this season when opening the scoring. A goal from a counter-attack is also rare for the Blues; Willian’s opener was their first fast break goal of 2017-18 (in the opinion of Opta).

But unfortunately for Chelsea, they ran into Romelu Lukaku on a rare good day against a top team.

Lukaku hadn’t scored against any side starting the day higher in the table than ninth before this match, but he weighed in with a goal and an assist.

The expected goal stats suggested a draw might’ve been a fair result. Had it not been for a marginal (debatable?) offside call against Alvaro Morata, Chelsea might’ve got it. As it is, they travel to Manchester City next week on the back of three defeats in their last four.

Manchester City cruised to a Carabao Cup win

Most people would’ve expected Manchester City to win the Carabao Cup final, but few would’ve predicted how straight forward it would be.

Yet Arsenal had the only clear-cut chance of the afternoon, and it came when the score was 0-0. Kyke Walker did brilliantly to beat Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Mesut Ozil’s cross, but as the ball span free the former Dortmund man should’ve scored.

It was undoubtedly the highlight of Aubameyang’s afternoon. He only had six touches in the second half, and two of them were kickoffs.

City took the lead thanks in part to a statistical rarity: an assist from a goalkeeper. There have only been three in the Premier League since the start of last season. Claudio Bravo created as many chances as Arsenal in the first half, which sums up the Gunners’ general lack of bite nicely.

In truth, the bigger contributing factors to the opening goal were dreadful defending by Shkodran Mustafi, and a wonderful finish from Sergio Aguero. The Argentine has now scored in his last five games against Arsenal, and will look to do so again on Thursday when these sides meet in the league.

City’s second goal came from a corner, and despite Arsenal’s reputation for being bullied on set pieces, this was unusual too. Arsene Wenger’s side have only conceded four goals from dead ball situations in the league this season, the joint-second fewest in the division.

Unfortunately for them, that doesn’t count for anything in a single match. Ilkay Gundogan was free to take a shot on the edge of the box, and Vincent Kompany deflected it past David Ospina.

Seven minutes later, David Silva fired across the Arsenal goalkeeper into the far corner to wrap things up. David de Gea was criticized for being beaten at his near post for Chelsea’s goal earlier in the day, but the truth is it’s nigh on impossible for a keeper to cover all angles.

City took their first step towards a trophy treble, while Arsenal must lick their wounds and move on. The Europa League is their best chance of glory, but AC Milan will be tough opponents in the next round.

Next: Robertson impresses in win over West Ham

Brighton got a priceless big win

With the bottom half of the Premier League as congested as it is, there are multiple vital matches every week. The likes of West Brom vs. Huddersfield and Bournemouth vs. Newcastle fell into this category this weekend, but the standout result was Brighton’s 4-1 win over Swansea.

The form book might’ve suggested an away win was the more likely outcome. Swansea lost just one of Carlos Carvalhal’s first seven matches in charge, and recorded wins over Liverpool and Arsenal along the way. Brighton, by contrast, had won just one match in the same period.

The Seagulls certainly deserved to win this one, as Swansea couldn’t get near them for most of the match. Brighton may have completed only eight dribbles, but four of them were in the Swansea box. This included one by José Izquierdo in the buildup to the final goal.

It wasn’t until Swansea were 3-0 down that they won a tackle in the central zone of their defensive third, and the only time Brighton were fouled in their attacking third led to a penalty. Glenn Murray scored it, and the home side were on their way to a handsome victory.

By full time, Chris Hughton’s team had crafted four clear-cut chances and an expected goals tally of 2.8. These were both new records for Brighton in the Premier League this season. But they also defended when they had to, and Shane Duffy was the star performer.

The former Blackburn defender made three of the Seagull’s four blocks, as well as making nine clearances and winning five aerial duels. Brighton’s next four league matches are very tricky, so it was vital they won here. Duffy certainly played his part in ensuring they did.