After an evenly balanced first half, the Blues came flying out of the blocks in the second period - not for the first time this season - and Morgan Rogers broke the deadlock with his fifth Premier League goal of the season, making him our top scorer in the competition and the first Chelsea player to reach 10 goal involvements across all competitions.

And after Manchester United were reduced to 10 men following a second booking for Lisandro Martinez for a foul on Wesley Fofana, and Cole Palmer swept in the resulting penalty for his 50th Premier League goal for the club, we were able to finish the job in relative comfort with a dominant second-half display.

Roaming Romeo

Lavia was voted Player of the Match by supporters on the Chelsea Official App – and it is not hard to see why. The Belgian dominated the midfield on Saturday, covering ground and stepping in with perfect timing to snuff out opposition attacks before they could gain momentum and producing counter-attacking opportunities.

The clearest example of that came shortly after half-time, when he created the chance for Rogers to open the scoring. As Bryan Mbeumo tried to shield the ball in the centre-circle, Lavia overpowered him and then reacted quickly to beat Carlos Baleba to the second ball and direct it into Rogers’ feet.

The midfielder was also unlucky not to get a second assist when he demonstrated his excellent reading of the game, racing out of nowhere to anticipate a Bruno Fernandes first-time pass and intercept, before sending Palmer running against the United backline.

It turned defence into attack in an instant and ended with Estevao Willian firing into the roof of the net, although the goal would be chalked off for the narrowest of VAR offside calls.

The Belgian’s five tackles were the most of any player on the pitch and he came away with the ball from four of them. Overall, he regained possession 14 times, not only the highest number in this match, but the most by any Chelsea player in a single fixture for over three-and-a-half years.

It's also telling that 12 of those 14 recoveries came in the opposition half and two of them in the Man Utd penalty area. Lavia didn't just sit back and protect our defence; he actively hunted the ball down to win it back from positions that we could threaten our opponents with a quick turnover.

Fluid attack

Of course, taking advantage of transitions instigated by ball-winners such as Lavia is easier when you have attacking players who can ruthlessly punish opponents.

Although Rogers was not far off the halfway line when he received the ball, the way he advanced with purpose towards the hesitant defenders made the goal seem almost inevitable.

It was a team effort from our forward line against Manchester United, though. Pedro Neto took on the central striker’s role in Joao Pedro’s absence and did so selflessly, holding up the ball and using his movement to create space for Rogers and Estevao to exploit coming into the channels from wide, while Palmer pulled the strings between the lines.

The effect was devastating, as our attack has been so often this season under Xabi Alonso. In total, the Blues managed 19 shots against Man Utd, our highest in a single Premier League match this season.

Estevao led the way by providing six of those, also the joint-highest by a Chelsea player in the league this season, in addition to his two goals disallowed.

Estevao, Palmer and Rogers all tied for the most chances created in the game, with three each, and also made up the leading three for passes completed in the final third. It was Palmer who topped that particular statistic, completing an impressive 19 of 25 passes in the final third, both game-high numbers.

Saturday's match underlined how much Palmer and Rogers love playing against Man Utd. The ex-Manchester City academy duo both have excellent records against their old local rivals: Palmer with five goals in eight games, Rogers with three goals in five games.

Joshing around

Further back, Josh Acheampong again showed how he has adapted to life in the Premier League this season. The Academy graduate has been a regular in Alonso’s team, featuring in all but one of our nine league games so far, and continues to produce performances that defy his age and experience.

With the movement of our attackers pulling the Man Utd defenders narrow, Acheampong was able to dominate the right flank. He kept Matheus Cunha largely in check while galloping forward to add width to our attacks at the other end.

Defensively, only Lavia bettered the 20-year-old’s three successful tackles and 10 ball recoveries, while in possession only Fofana had more than his 90 touches of the ball.

In addition, Acheampong’s 12 completed passes in the final third were only behind the attacking trio of Estevao, Palmer and Rogers, and more than any United player apart from Bruno Fernandes. A true all-round performance from our young right-back.