Reece James delighted with Chelsea’s ‘all-or-nothing’ win over Manchester United | OneFootball

Chelsea captain Reece James hailed an “all-or-nothing” win over Manchester United that kept the Blues in command of their Champions League fate.

With 20 minutes remaining at Stamford Bridge, Enzo Maresca’s side were heading into the final day of the Premier League season next weekend needing results elsewhere to go their way in the race for the top five, until defender Marc Cucurella appeared in the box to head James’ cross past Andre Onana and propel Chelsea back above Aston Villa into fourth.

Victory away against Nottingham Forest next Sunday will secure a return to Europe’s top club competition for the first time since 2023.

However, it looked for a long time like 16th-placed United – who have now lost six of their last eight in the league – would wreck the home side’s ambitions.

“It was a much-needed win, it was all-or-nothing to keep it in our hands,” said James. “Manchester United set up well and made the first half very tough. We knew going into half-time we needed to come out, create a few chances and take one.

“It’s tough when you need to win, when they come here and make it difficult. We need to ignore where they are in the table because it doesn’t reflect how good they are.”

James was the architect of the winning goal. It was his clever turn to pirouette away from Alejandro Garnacho and inch-perfect cross onto the head of Cucurella that finally opened up United after poor finishing had threatened to thwart Chelsea.

“I knew that I had space and time, and if I put it in the right area, then Marc is always arriving, so I’m happy we were both able to contribute to the win today.

“What makes the difference in the end is the goals. They didn’t have many chances. They had one offside goal, but they didn’t have much other than that. As a team, we’re getting stronger and I think we showed that today. We’re stepping up as a group.”

For United their season has long been about whether they can triumph in the Europa League and, with that, secure passage to next season’s Champions League.

Victory in Wednesday’s final against Tottenham in Bilbao is their only hope of shifting some of the gloom of what has been by far the club’s worst Premier League season – defeat on the final day at home to Villa could see them finish 17th.

Nevertheless, Ruben Amorim fielded a strong lineup in west London.

“I didn’t like the feeling after the last game (a 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham),” he said. “Then we have five days to prepare (the final), two days to fully recover, with some video, two days to prepare for the game and one day to compete.

“If I put some players out, the last game I already put some players out, so it would be like 10 days without a game. I don’t like that. I think the best way to prepare for a final, when you have time to fully recover and prepare for the next game, is just to compete.”