United cruise past Blues

Manchester United boosted their title hopes with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Vidic, Rooney and Berbatov on target in 3-0 win

Manchester United boosted their title hopes with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford. United created the better opportunities in a fiercely competitive first half and broke the deadlock just before the interval when Nemanja Vidic nodded in a corner. The Blues were unable to respond at the start of the second period and fell 2-0 behind when Wayne Rooney finished past Petr Cech from Patrice Evra's cross. Dimitar Berbatov then turned home Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kick late on as United climbed back to third and closed to within one point of the Blues.

Strange

Luiz Felipe Scolari's decision not to start with Nicolas Anelka, especially with Rio Ferdinand's back injury ruling him out, seemed strange. But Chelsea seemed more incisive in midfield early on, even if their hosts had more possession. Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack both had chances and a more natural offensive player than Ashley Cole would surely have profited from Deco's inspired pass instead of allowing it to bounce through to Edwin van der Sar. In return a viciously curling Ryan Giggs free-kick caused Cech a problem, more so than Berbatov's scuffed shot after being invited to shoot by Rooney. But, with Ronaldo and Ballack also having penalty claims turned down, a hotly contested scrap was still waiting for its switch to be triggered as it entered the last couple of first-half minutes. Ronaldo might have flicked it but he mis-hit a shot that bounced into Rooney. Then Darren Fletcher had a penalty appeal turned down when his effort struck John Terry on the arm.

Bemused

Instead, United got the corner which will still be debated for some time. Rooney seemed to know exactly what he was doing when he rolled the ball into, then out of the quadrant. Giggs ambled over, crossed and Ronaldo - expected to be crowned FIFA world player of the year in Zurich tomorrow - powered home a near-post header. Referee Howard Webb said no. United reacted with fury at the perceived injustice of it all, surrounding the linesman who had made the decision. Chelsea were merely bemused. Amazingly, Chelsea were still trying to take it in as Giggs swung over the re-take. This time Berbatov got there first, flicking the ball on towards the far post where Vidic arrived to power home. A month ago, Vidic scored United's injury-time winner against Sunderland before getting sent off in the Club World Cup final win in Japan that might yet rule him out of the Champions League clashes with Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan. This was something different and prompted Scolari into a half-time reshuffle, with Anelka replacing Deco. The move worked to the extent that Chelsea were able to enjoy more sustained spells with the ball.

Double negative

However, the double negative for the visitors was that their finishing was poor and their need to attack played to United's strengths. Nevertheless, Chelsea's goal should not have been under threat once Evra exchanged passes with Ronaldo but then skimmed Berbatov's head with the left-wing cross. Cole seemed to be in control of the situation but Rooney had other ideas as he pushed his leg between the England full-back's and got enough power into a shot to divert it past a startled Cech. And when Ronaldo picked out Berbatov with a low free-kick four minutes from time that gave the Bulgarian an easy finish, Scolari could probably feel Mourinho's eyes burning into him from above, with the Portuguese tactician watching Chelsea for the first time since leaving his Stamford Bridge post.

Manchester United	Team Statistics	Chelsea
3	Goals	0
1	1st Half Goals	0
5	Shots on Target	1
3	Shots off Target	5
6	Blocked Shots	5
6	Corners	3
14	Fouls	17
3	Offsides	1
3	Yellow Cards	5
0	Red Cards	0
83.8	Passing Success	81.3
17	Tackles	22
88.2	Tackles Success	59.1
51.6	Possession	48.4
47.3	Territorial Advantage	52.7