Manchester United 3-1 Chelsea 18 sept 2011

Manchester United 3-1 Chelsea 18 sept 2011


Manchester United claimed a record-equalling 18th
successive home win by beating Chelsea 3-1 to march two points clear at
the Premier League summit.
And that does not even scratch the surface of a day of drama against Chelsea.

First-half goals from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney - his ninth of the season - proved enough for the hosts.



However,
Rooney also had a 'Moscow moment' missing a second-half penalty,
slipping as he went to strike it, Fernando Torres scored only his second
Chelsea goal, then unbelievably fired wide of a completely empty net
after rounding David de Gea.



De Gea had already repelled a
marginally less glaring chance for Ramires and in stoppage time, Dimitar
Berbatov was denied by Cole, whose earlier poor challenge on Javier
Hernandez had led the Mexican to hobble off in considerable pain.



It all ended with United matching an achievement from the 1904-05 season, when they were a Second Division club.



Correctly, Ferguson observed this was United's toughest test to date.

The same could also be said of Villas-Boas' Chelsea though. And they came up short.

Chelsea
did carve out a succession of opportunities that at one stage turned
the game into a personal contest between the Blues and De Gea.



The
save that prevented Ramires prodding into an open goal was the best,
drawing applause from Peter Schmeichel in the directors' box, and he
knows a thing or two about the pressure of keeping net at Old Trafford.



In
truth, Chelsea should have scored that one. Torres did his bit, rolling
the ball across the box. A better placed Daniel Sturridge could not
believe Ramires had nipped in ahead of him as the goal gaped.



That
was the trouble though. Chelsea needed Torres to convert those chances,
not create them. He eventually did. And then contributed to one of
those bloopers videos that will haunt him for the remainder of his
career.



As Chelsea pressed, United created nothing. Their opener
already converted after slack marking that angered John Terry and must
have alarmed Villas-Boas.

There was nothing special about Ashley Young's eighth minute free-kick, which was floated to the far post.



But
Terry found himself the only one defending as United shirts piled in,
Smalling the man to make a connection to turn home his first league
goal.



Having escaped unscathed from Chelsea's pummelling, United
went to the other end and doubled their lead thanks to a piece of
brilliance from Nani.



Questions should be asked about the ease
with which Juan Mata was brushed aside but once the midfielder was out
of the way, Nani advanced with confidence and drove a 20-yard effort
into the top corner.



By half-time, United had a third as Terry's
attempted clearance bounced off Nani and into the path of Rooney, who
tapped home his ninth of the season.



The credit went to Phil
Jones, although the aura surrounding the summer arrival from Blackburn
was punctured by the ease with which Torres got behind him to slot home
Nicolas Anelka's through ball 30 seconds after the re-start.



It
was only Torres' second goal since arriving from Liverpool and justified
Villas-Boas' decision to introduce Anelka for Lampard at half-time.



Having already threatened on numerous occasions, Chelsea's confidence grew immediately.

United
nerves would have been eased had they converted the penalty Jose
Bosingwa gifted them when he tripped Nani after initially remaining
static to allow the Portugal winger to seize on the loose ball after his
own deflected shot had crashed against the bar.



Neither side
will forget how Terry slipped as he went to slot home what would have
been the decisive spot-kick in the shoot-out to decide the 2008
Champions League final.

Today Rooney emulated him, his standing
foot giving way, the ball bouncing harmlessly wide after the striker had
fired it into his own body.



United might easily have had another
spot-kick when Cole flew into Hernandez after Rooney had pushed a
glorious chance against the post.



The tackle was not great and
resulted in Hernandez hobbling down the tunnel in obvious pain as he was
replaced by Berbatov but, having fired into the side netting, Dowd felt
the incident was worthy of a yellow card and no more.



Having
scored once in front of the Stretford End, Torres suffered utter
humiliation seven minutes from time as he raced on to Ramires' through
ball, rounded De Gea and then somehow fired wide of a completely empty
net.



Berbatov missed a golden opportunity himself in stoppage
time, as Cole cleared off the line after Rooney had set the Bulgarian up
with an admittedly misdirected pass.