United looked depleted at the final whistle on Saturday with Alan Pardew’s squad decimated by injury and those sent out to battle also picking up fresh knocks.
But while Chelsea could have served up an even bigger scoreline and REALLY taken us to the cleaners ... Pardew defended his team saying it was "an excellent performance".
Two 3-0 defeats on the bounce ... but the manager is more than happy!
Alan Pardew: “The spirit is good, we proved that.
"Nobody can accuse us of not having a spirited performance; it was certainly that.
“I was very, very pleased with the reaction after Sunderland.”