Xabi Alonso reveals half-time message that inspired Chelsea to beat Manchester United

Morgan Rogers opened the scoring with a superb individual goal five minutes after the break, with Cole Palmer - back from a suspension that ruled him out at Anfield - then netting from the penalty spot after a foul on Wesley Fofana by Lisandro Martinez, who picked up two yellow cards in the space of just 83 seconds to leave crisis-stricken United with 10 men for more than 25 minutes.The impressive Estevao also saw two goals ruled out for offside on a rare start this season, while United goalkeeper Senne Lammens made a number of fine saves to go along with big misses by the likes of Palmer and substitute Valentin Barco.Though the scoreline should have been more emphatic in the end, Chelsea certainly did not have everything their own way initially, with United delivering a much-improved first-half performance.Read MoreThey were unfortunate not to go in at the break in front having been the better team and seen Matheus Cunha’s close-range header also chalked off for offside.However, Chelsea dominated thereafter - also grateful to Mike Penders for an extraordinary stoppage-time save that brushed Bryan Mbeumo’s fizzing long-range effort onto the crossbar - to regain some momentum under Alonso and rise back up to fourth in the Premier League table before fifth-place Liverpool host second-place Arsenal in an Anfield blockbuster on Sunday.Asked what message he had delivered to his players at half-time, Alonso said: “We have spoken at half-time that we're going to win this game with the ball.“So the improvement has been with the ball, the message has been to be better with the ball, not to give away that much, to change something tactically but we were more comfortable on the pitch, we looked better controlled and that's when you feel better with the ball, normally you are better for defending as well.“So I think that reaction, that change has been important for the goal and for the feeling as well.”