Chelsea 1 : 1 United

Goals:
Chelsea : Solomon Kalou(80th min)
United : Park Ji Sung (18th min)

Chelsea have a lot to thank Wayne Rooney and Salomon Kalou. Rooney's overzealous(can there be another side to him!) rash tackle gave Chelsea a free-kick inside United's half while United were running away with the match. That free-kick lead to Kalou getting a free header in front of the United goal which he gleefully put it past Tomasz Kuszack, United's substitute keeper, to keep Chelsea's 85 match unbeaten home record intact!

Well, the result could so easily have been different. United's start to the game was another Anfield - full of life in the attack. With Rooney and Berbatov starting alongside upfront, for the first time and having more accomplished wingers to assist in a 4-4-2 formation, United looked really eager to put the Anfield disappointment behind. Chelsea on the other had were without their new midfield maestro Deco. Rooney, Park, Fletcher, Hargreaves and Evra made life difficult for Chelsea right from the opening whistle. Fletcher and Ferdinand each had a golden chance to get a goal for themselves only to be denied by Petr Cech on each occasion So could have Wayne Rooney when a cheeky volley could so easily have embarassed Cech. But United did get their deserved goal as early as the 18th minute. A searching run by Evra had Rooney feeding him and Evra found Berbatov to shoot. Berbatov's shot was fumbled by Cech and a lurking Park gleefully put it into the back of the net. But like against Liverpool, United just seemed to switch off after the goal which gave Chelsea lot of possession. Chelsea kept probing to get an equalizer - but weren't successful in the first half.
The game also lost it's fluency because of the highhanded approach of the referee and also the injury to Van der Sar who had to leave after he almost committed another howler.

Second half had Drogba and Ronaldo getting into the thick of action after their substitution. Chelsea enjoyed huge amount of possession and they looked like getting the equalizer anytime which they did around the 80th minute through Kalou. But United could so easily have killed the game through the numerous counter attacks they created. Somehow, it seemed as if the match was bound to end in a stalemate. The pace of the game was hardly anything to comment as it had huge number of disruptions. Referee Mike Riley seemed to be eager to brandish a yellow to every United player that came near him!

From United's point of view, they could have ruined Chelsea's Stamford Bridge record so easily had they taken their numerous counter-attack chances. Ronaldo particularly looked pretty inane in his runs. We also have gone for the second goal with much more vigour, something we didn't get to see and it looked as if one goal was all we were looking for. That's one characteristic I have seen in these big matches, one team gets a goal and completely goes into defensive mode. And the other side comes up with a barrage of attacks and most often than not wins an equalizer. No wonder most of the big matches end in a stalemate.


Man of the Match: Wayne Rooney for his hand in the goal and those runs to cover the defense.