JOSE MOURINHO BREEZED through his debut Premier League season with his Chelsea side racking up a Premier League record of 95 points on their way to winning the title.
In the penultimate game of the campaign in May 2005, Chelsea faced Manchester United. For the second successive season, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side would finish in third place while they’d also suffer FA Cup heartache, losing to bitter rivals Arsenal in a penalty shoot-out.
But before that, United also had to suffer the embarrassment of affording Chelsea a guard of honour at Old Trafford – Mourinho’s side having confirmed their championship win weeks before.
It’s remarkable to think that this was a title-winning Chelsea side (albeit with some players missing). Certainly, the likes of Ricardo Carvalho, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard and William Gallas were always heavy-hitters and dominant performers but the likes of Tiago, Robert Huth, Glen Johnson, Geremi and Joe Cole certainly weren’t.
It’s also worth pondering on how United finished so far behind Arsenal in 2004 and Chelsea in 2005 with a team that seemed so strong on paper.
United took the lead in the game through Ruud van Nistelrooy after seven minutes but Tiago equalised shortly after. On the hour mark, Gudjohnsen put Chelsea in front while Cole secured the three points with a late third.
Man Utd: Roy Carroll, Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Mikael Silvestre, Darren Fletcher (Louis Saha 72), Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Subs Not Used: Tim Howard, Alan Smith, John O’Shea, Quinton Fortune.
Chelsea: Carlo Cudicini, Glen Johnson (Jiri Jarosik 72), Ricardo Carvalho, Robert Huth, William Gallas, Geremi, Tiago, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole (Anthony Grant 90), Eidur Gudjohnsen (Nuno Morais 86).
Subs Not Used: Petr Cech, Mikael Forssell.
