Didier Drogba's controversial winner allowed Chelsea to shrug
Manchester United aside and put themselves back in pole position
in the Premier League title race.
Sir Alex Ferguson and his team will feel hard done by as Drogba
was clearly offside as he collected Salomon Kalou's pass and drove
home 12 minutes from time.
The significance of the error only became clear once Federico Macheda
had pulled a goal back for the hosts to set up a pulsating finish.
But Ferguson would be aware that the first hour had been completely
one-sided in Chelsea's favour and that the visitors should have
had a greater advantage than the one goal Joe Cole provided in the
first half.
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 Carlo 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. |
