Chelsea vs Manchester United: Guus Hiddink discusses Kurt Zouma injury and team reaction to draw
Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink has praised his team reaction to secure a "deserved" 1-1 draw against Manchester United on Sunday (7 February) thanks to a late goal by Diego Costa. The Dutch boss, meanwhile, revealed that Kurt Zouma will have a scan on Monday after he suffered a nasty injury during the game, adding that he hopes the France international will not have to miss the remaining of the campaign.
Jesse Lingard gave United a deserved lead in the 60th minute of the game with a sublime touch. But the Spanish striker rescued a point for the Blues in the added time to preserve their unbeaten record since the appointment of Hiddink.
"We deserved a point in the end because in any minute you can score. Manchester United started very well in the first 20 minutes, they stretched us and we had a reaction where we dropped back instead of going forward and going into the duels. We reacted after 20 minutes, go into the duels and defended collectively. We got some chances with no reward," the boss said.
"They scored a beautiful goal in the 60th minute through Lingard, but without resistance on our part, which is what we have to improve. We reacted very well going for the equaliser, you can compliment both goalies because in key situations they did their job. At the end we had some chances so we deserved this point."
The Chelsea draw, however, was overshadowed by the injury of Zouma earlier in the second half, after the 21-year-old had to be stretchered off at Stamford Bridge following a nasty injury in the knee.
But Hiddink refused to speculate until the results of the scan, adding that he hopes the injury will not be as bad as first thought. "(Being out for) the rest of season is hopefully too much, tomorrow he will have an examination but it's very bad when you land with a hyper extended leg," the boss admitted. "We'll see what happens, touch wood they have a good explanation. There are several scenarios when it's like that but it's very bad."
Hiddink, meanwhile, refused to give up the Chelsea hopes to secure the top four, but urged his side to back to winning games to get is as they are currently 17points behind fourth-placed Manchester City.
"I said before when we were one point away from the relegation zone our target must still be fourth but I also said we have to start winning," he said. "Of course we are unbeaten but if you want to get into fourth place you must have victories and we've had too many draws. Mathematically it might be possible but we must start winning again."
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