Man Utd 1-2 Chelsea

Chelsea moved to the top of the table with an impressive 2-1 win over rivals Manchester United in their title showdown at Old Trafford.

Joe Cole gave Chelsea the lead on 20 minutes with a clever back-heeled finish from Florent Malouda's cross in a first half dominated by the visitors.

Didier Drogba came off the bench to net a second 11 minutes from time even though it appeared the striker was offside as he latched onto Salomon Kalou's pass.

Manchester United substitute Federico Macheda pulled a goal back two minutes later when Cech could only parry Nani's cross into the path of the Italian who bundled the ball into the net.

United threw everything at Chelsea in the closing stages, but Carlo Ancelotti's men held on to move two points clear at the top of the table.

Without Wayne Rooney, there was no real bite in United's attack. And although the 34-goal striker is only out for a fortnight, by the time he returns his side's dreams of glory might be over, considering Chelsea now have a two-point advantage and a superior goal difference.

Since his recovery from a long-term knee injury, Cole has struggled to get back into the swing of things.

Fabio Capello claimed he was not the same player when he left the midfielder out of his England squad to face Egypt last month, raising extreme doubt over Cole's chances of making the World Cup.

Cole's admission that contract talks had broken down was a statement in itself, given it is hard to imagine Ancelotti allowing a pivotal player to find himself in such a position so close to him being allowed to leave on a free transfer.

Old Trafford has been mentioned as a potential destination should Cole leave Stamford Bridge this summer, so it was an opportunity to impress Sir Alex Ferguson, not that the United chief would have found the 18th-minute opener even vaguely admirable.

Having put his side's obvious failings in possession down to a one-off in Munich last week, Ferguson must have been worried to see the same fault reappearing quite so often, quite so soon.

There is no doubt the ankle injury Rooney suffered in Germany had a negative effect on United. But the fault lay much deeper, their play too ponderous to have any impact.

All across the midfield, United were wasteful in possession. And with Malouda giving Gary Neville a right old runaround, Chelsea took complete command.

The disappointment for Ancelotti must have been that his team did not make the most of their possession.

Edwin van der Sar denied Cole on one occasion and Nicolas Anelka had a couple of shots blocked but clear-cut chances were rare.

Even Chelsea's opening goal was not a golden opportunity in that sense. Malouda was invited to run into the home box and although Darren Fletcher eventually reacted, the Chelsea midfielder had the strength to hold him off and cut the ball back to the near post, where Cole got in front of Patrice Evra and found the net with a neat back flick.

It took United a long time to respond. And when the rally eventually came, it took the form of a couple of debatable penalty appeals and referee Mike Dean was not impressed either when Yuri Zhirkov chopped down Park Ji-sung and Dimitar Berbatov fell under Frank Lampard's challenge.

Had Paulo Ferreira shown more conviction when he raced to meet Cole's excellent through-ball at the start of the second half, the contest would have been over.

Instead, the full-back failed to find either the far corner, or Anelka, and United, who at least speeded up a little bit, remained alive.

The escape certainly seemed to galvanise the hosts, who for the first time made Chelsea's defence creak.

Berbatov, the man of whom so much was expected in Rooney's absence, was just off target with a couple of headers and, off balance, Park was unable to keep his shot on target after a forceful Fletcher run had carved Chelsea open.

The introduction of Drogba midway through the second half emphasised the Blues' strength in depth compared to their hosts, who were forced to rely on the talents of teenager Macheda when Ferguson needed to reinvigorate his side.

Predictably, Drogba had an immediate impact, even if he was offside as he collected Kalou's pass before drilling his shot past Van der Sar.

Down, and almost out, United responded instantly as Cech pushed Nani's cross onto the on-rushing Macheda.

The ball bounced slowly into the Chelsea goal to set up a dramatic ending. But the Blues were worthy winners at the end. Behind glass, in the executive box where he watched from, Rooney could only wonder what might have been.

Source: Sky Sports
Date Published: 3 April 2010

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It was an awful decision, but I don't think we can have too many complaints. Macheda handled the ball for our goal, Scholes was very lucky to stay on the pitch and both sides had valid penalty claims turned down.

- Neil

I don't see Arsenal overtaking Chelsea - three points and vastly inferior goal difference - with Fabregas, Van Persie, Gallas missing - they will surely slip up either at Tottenham or against City, or indeed against a weaker side. If Rooney is an outside chance for Bayern, he must have a very good chance of being available for the Blackburn game - which would make me a lot more confident that we can go there and win. I think Shaun is right and we'll know a lot more about who's going to win it after Saturday 17th. The biggest worry for me is that, while they've tough fixtures at Liverpool and Spurs, the goal difference situation means we really need them to lose a game rather than draw - that's before considering whether we can take the 15 points we will now probably need to take the title. I don't think we've by any means been awful this season, though. We've lost seven games, but I doubt many of those in the first half of the season - obviously Fulham away, perhaps also Villa at OT and the Anfield/Stamford Bridge defeats - would have occurred if we'd had Van Der Sar, Ferdinand and Vidic fully fit and playing regularly together. After all, they were the reason for our success last season much more than Ronaldo - we've scored far more goals this season than last. I'm not trying to make excuses, but the biggest problem we're now having is the squad is depleted by injuries and we cannot rely on Neville, Scholes and Giggs to play twice a week in their mid-thirties. So hopefully the speculation about Rafael, Nani and Carrick returning against Bayern on Wednesday will prove to be accurate. We could have done with having O'Shea/Brown available at right-back and Anderson/Hargreaves to provide other midfield options too, and I see this as much more crucial than lack of adequate back-up for Rooney. We didn't have an option to change the midfield when things weren't working against Bayern, leading to the Berbatov subsitution which didn't pay off at all.

- Neil

We've not played well all season so it is no surprise that our bad form is now catching up with us. However, this time next week if we beat Blackburn we'll be top of the league again (by a point) and Chelsea play Bolton midweek (who have in the past caused them problems). So we just have to hope someone takes some points of them. The league this year has proved that anyone can take points of anyone and we just have to hope that's the case for Chelsea. At the same time we HAVE to win our remaining games, and obviously next Sunday with Blackburn is a potential banana skin. I think the weekend of 17th April is a big weekend, we are away at City at lunch time and Chelsea are away at Spurs at tea time. If we were to win that game it would give us a huge boost and pile the pressure on Chelsea to win at Spurs (which is not easy). The following week we play Spurs on the Saturday and they play Stoke on the Sunday, so once again we can be top of the league putting pressure on them. If they manage to cope and win their remaining games of the season and so do we, we will just have to accept that this season we have just not been good enough. After much negativity Saturday afternoon I still think there is a twist in this and I have this strange feeling Arsenal might surprise a few people and snatch the title.

- Shaun

I still think they'll drop points against either Spurs or the Mickeys. We played very flat, lacked a spark, but keep in mind that had the linesman got the use of his faculties we would still be top of the league. How the hell he saw that as onside is beyond. Keep the faith!

- Jonesy

It was a disgraceful first half performance, and you never want to be chasing the game against someone like Chelsea. I'm sure focus will be on Berbatov, but it was the sloppiness of our passing, especially in the first half, that cost us. Chelsea are now favourites and for us to get past them we'll have to win 5 out of 5. Unlikely, but we have to keep going.

- twoc2002

We have the (potential) advantage of kicking off before them from now until game 37. I'd imagine their game at Liverpool will be on the box meaning that we have every game between now an the last to apply the preasure.

- jonny

Dominated second half, because we pushed up, won the ball in their half. That little bit of luck you need to win titles went their way today, but it's not over yet!

- Cookster68

A linesman that can keep his eyes open and things could have been so much different. A draw was clearly the fairest result but I don't think the League is beyond us. We'll have to win all our remaining games (including City away) and hope that Spurs and/or Liverpool get something against Chelsea. Goal difference could come into it so that's something else that needs to be adressed.

- John

We looked tired and flat.

- Darren

so much better in the second half but our first half performance is the reason we lost. although that second goal was ridiculously offside.

- Shaun