There was a mild tremor felt in the room when Louis van Gaal banged a fist on the table to reinforce his point after Manchester United had lost 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. The eruption follows next season. Van Gaal revealed that he had 11 disappointed faces looking up at him in the dressing room, with the sunken eyes of United's players pleading with him to explain how they had come to be beaten. They dominated possession, completing nearly three times as many successful passes than the champions-elect and yet they were unzipped by a goal in the 38th minute from Eden Hazard. Life can be cruel. Despite United's defeat there were signs on Saturday, what with the slick passing and their range of movement, that the battle lines have been drawn ahead of a proper title race next season. Van Gaal's team are coming for Chelsea and this is what English football needs. United will be a serious challenger. Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal was left frustrated after his side were defeated 1-0 by Chelsea . Chelsea forward Eden Hazard (left) jostles for possession with Manchester United's Juan Mata on Saturday . Manchester United midfielder Ander Hererra is sent hurtling to the ground following a challenge on Saturday . There is a growing sense, based on this performance, that Mourinho and Van Gaal will be locked in full combat mode when the fixture list for the 2015-16 season is released in June. This is undoubtedly Chelsea's year, starting off with the Capital One Cup in February and moving on to become the effective team in the Barclays Premier League. They are ten points ahead of Arsenal with six to play. Should Chelsea go on to win at the Emirates next Sunday and grab another three points at Leicester the following Wednesday they will be crowned deserved champions. This used to be United territory. In the summer they will spend more serious money again, fully intent on assembling a powerful squad to threaten Chelsea, a re-energised Manchester City and possibly even Arsenal over a 38 game season. There is work to be done, mainly through the middle, and Van Gaal will prioritise central defenders (Mats Hummels and/or Marquinos), an attacking midfielder (Paul Pogba) and another winger (Memphis Depay) in the summer. For now he can reflect on a promising performance, particularly with Ander Herrera dictating the tempo of the game so impressively in his posting just in front of the back four. He really looks a player. When Michael Carrick returns to United's team from injury, his partnership with Herrera will continue to flourish in the centre of that midfield. Luke Shaw, who has missed United's previous four games in the Premier League, returned at left-back because of an injury to Daley Blind. He looked solid, if short of fitness. United are considering an approach for Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba (centre) in the next transfer window . The Red Devils are also keeping tabs on Borussia Dortmund's highly-rated defender Mats Hummels (right) United still need to address a problem in attack, where Falcao is patently short of confidence and lacking the sharpness that one elevated him into the elite category of strikers with Porto, Atletico Madrid and Monaco. He will not be staying. Van Gaal's methods and his regime, brutal as it is at times, is clearly having a positive effect on the majority of this squad. The captain Wayne Rooney, playing in a deep-lying midfield position just in front of Herrera because of the injuries to key players, spoke of 'dominating the football match'. United's on-loan striker Radamel Falcao has struggled for form ever since joining the club last summer . United captain Wayne Rooney is deployed in an uncomfortable midfield role at Chelsea on Saturday . Luke Shaw (right) returns to the Manchester United first-team against Chelsea but looks to lack match fitness . Hazard shoots to score the opening goal against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday . The Belgian forward slides on his knees in front of delighted Chelsea fans after giving his side the lead . Crucially Chelsea won it, but there was an obvious undertone to this fixture as Van Gaal's team snapped at Matic in the centre of midfield and made life uncomfortable for the creator Cesc Fabregas. 'In terms of the way we moved the Chelsea players about, making them work, it was excellent,' added Rooney. 'Over the last few months it has all started to click and the players understand what the manager wants. That's showing in the performances. 'I've rarely seen a team come to Stamford Bridge and dominate so much. All that was missing was the goal.' The target is topple Chelsea, to re-emerge as a genuince force in the English game after being left behind by City and Chelsea in the last two title races. It is true that Mourinho negated the threat of Marouane Fellaini, one of United' s goalscorers at Old Trafford during their convincing 4-2 victory over Manchester City the previous weekend. Chelsea's Kurt Zouma puts in a solid performance in midfield to stifle the threat of United's Marouane Fellaini . There was an element of doubt whether he would even be playing when his lookalike brother Mansour arrived at Chelsea's team hotel on Saturday morning to collect some match tickets from Eden Hazard, who is Fellaini's Belgium team-mate. 'I had to Google him,' explained Mourinho after a bum steer from the doorman. In any event, Chelsea's manager had a plan to keep the United midfielder quiet, and by and large it worked. 'Zouma played to stop Fellaini playing in the box,' added Mourinho.' He is doing amazing jobs for us. 'Mentally he is very strong. Not just physically, but mentally. He has learned a lot from a tactical point of view. He is 20 years old, so we can imagine Chelsea will have him for 10 years.' This was an important victory for Chelsea, extending Mourinho's undefeated run to 11 games against teams in the top four since his return to English football. 'Louis is my friend, but we had them in our pockets,' claimed Chelsea's manager. Next season, though, promises to be very different. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho looks animated on the touchline during his side's narrow win over United .
Chelsea edged Manchester United 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday . Blues forward Eden Hazard scored the game's only goal, but United dominated possession and completed many more successful passes . Despite defeat, United's confident performance suggests that they will definitely be Premier League title challengers again next season . United are preparing to spend heavily in the summer transfer window .