Manchester United claimed a record-equalling 18th
successive home win to march two points clear at the
Premier League summit with victory at Old Trafford.
And that does not even scratch the surface of a day
of drama against Chelsea.
• Jolly: Torres turns tribute act
• Villas-Boas left bemused
• Ferguson: Cole challenge was shocking
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.
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