Chelsea reopened the Premier League title race when they came from a goal back to beat Manchester United, with ten games remaining in the season. Chelsea still have a mathematical chance of retaining the league title, although they would have to win most of their remaining games while relying on other results to go their way.
United, who started the game on the back of an impressive run of form, had surprisingly not beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge since 2002. However, Chelsea, who are on their worst run of form for many seasons, were fifteen points behind United before the start of the game.
The Blues, who left Didier Drogba on the bench in favor of Fernando Torres and Nicolás anelka attacking partnership, started the game brightly, but the visitors soon found their rhythm, with crisp passing and fluid football.
Wayne Rooney, who controversially escaped suspension following his clash with Wigan’s James McCarthy at the weekend, was booed by the home fans every time he touched the ball. However, it was Rooney who silenced the Chelsea fans after 29 minutes when he felt a long-range shot into the Chelsea goal before celebrating in front of the Chelsea fans.
The Reds, who started their first team unchanged in 165 games, continued to dominate play throughout the first half and avoided any real threat from the hosts, although a fine save by Edwin Van der Sar on a Frank Lampard free-kick, six minutes before. half-time, should have set off alarm bells and reminded United of the nemesis that Chelsea have been in recent years.
Chelsea’s hero of the night turned out to be David Luiz, whose arrival from Benfica in the January transfer window was somewhat overshadowed by the £50m signing of Fernando Torres. Luiz was impressive throughout the game and it was his unstoppable shot in the 54th minute that leveled the score and opened the game wide.
Both managers made positive attacking substitutions, with Drogba replacing Anelka for the Blues and Dimitar Berbatov and Ryan Giggs coming on for United, marking a 606th appearance for Giggs at the club where he began his professional career twenty years ago.
Neither seemed happy with the tie and both teams were going for the game-winner, the play and tackles were furious at times as both teams seemed to be playing as much for pride as for the three points. After Chris Smalling clumsily challenged Zhirkov in the 80th minute, Frank Lampard, whose impressive penalty record has faltered of late, made no mistake this time when he kicked in the penalty to give Chelsea a 2-1 lead. Zhirkov nearly added a third goal for the Blues moments later, but his shot deflected off the post.
Compounding United’s misery, Vidic was sent off during stoppage time for a second bookable offence, meaning he will miss the important trip to Liverpool and the sacking could leave United defensively weak.
The main beneficiaries of this game appear to be Arsenal, who are now just four points behind the leaders and have one game left to play, while Chelsea have cemented their quest to finish in the top four in the Premier League and into La Liga. of Champions next year.