Blind: We Were Better Than Chelsea

“We played a better game, we were the better team and we deserved the three points."

That was the view of a visibly frustrated yet quietly encouraged Daley Blind following Manchester United’s 1-1 draw at Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday.

The Dutchman was speaking exclusively to MUTV in the moments following Diego Costa’s dramatic 91st-minute equaliser at Stamford Bridge, where Louis van Gaal’s men had dominated for large periods of the game and deservedly led through Jesse Lingard’s brilliant opener before conceding late on.

“Of course we’re disappointed,” Blind told us. “If you play a game like this you have to reward yourself. It was difficult in the end, we knew that. I think overall we played a better game, we were the better team and we deserved the three points. But we can’t deny that they got some chances as well in the end. In the last 15 minutes they were the better team but overall we were better.

“They put extra strikers on and their defenders came up,” Daley continued. “A lot of players were getting tired, there were tired legs meaning there was a lot of free-kicks given away. So it was difficult. But we stood our ground, David [De Gea] was in great form and made some great saves so that gives confidence to your defence. It’s a pity what happened in the last minute.

“I think we can be positive about the play but for now the disappointment overrules that. We played well, we’ll see what we need to do next week but of course it’s on our mind that we’ve played well. But like I said for now the disappointment is overruling that.”

Blind also admitted he was pleased to see his good friend Lingard bag his fourth goal of the season with a superb turn and finish past the in-form Thibaut Courtois, although the former Ajax utility man was clearly struggling to forget about the disappointment of dropping two points.

“It was a fantastic goal and I’m happy for him,” Daley said. “But I think we have to be more patient with how we play out the game and [make sure we] go away with the win.”