Manchester United were reportedly convinced they would blow Chelsea away before they even kicked off at Old Trafford on Sunday.
The Red Devils hammered Chelsea 4-0, scoring three times in the second half and registering a resounding victory in their first Premier League game of the season.
United’s pace caused chaos for Chelsea and two of the goals came when the home side won the ball back and broke quickly.
The Manchester Evening News claim United predicted to each other they would stun Chelsea and wreck havoc on their backline.
United’s leading stars believe that under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer they have become fitter and quicker and that Chelsea would underestimate their pace.
One of Solskjaer’s main targets this summer was to dramatically improve fitness levels, feeling his side were miles behind the top sides’ conditioning.
Players like Marcus Rashford spoke at length during pre-season about the new regime and how much fitter the players were feeling compared to the same time last year.
Paul Pogba enjoyed success through the middle of the park and laid on two assists, while Rashford scored twice in an excellent display.
The visitors’ struggled to regroup quickly when they lost the ball and United pounced on that weakness to open the scoring from the spot after Rashford was brought down by Kurt Zouma.
‘That’s the job of a manager, that we always have to improve,’ Solskjaer said after the win.
‘We have to look behind the results. I would have said the same if we’d had a different result.
‘This is a work in progress and the lads have been excellent from 1 July – before then actually, because they were fit enough for them to implement what we wanted them to.
‘We know it’s just the start and there are relationships to be worked on.
‘The more we understand each other and get to play with each other and show that we’re a team, it’s going to improve.’
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