Premier League Review: Chelsea 1-0 Man United

Just before the game yesterday between Man United and Chelsea, when the team news came through and there was no Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic or Dimitar Berbatov in the starting line-up, I was worried. We were going to Stamford Bridge without three of our main players but at the end of the game, I was disappointed for a totally different reason.

MANCHESTER UNITED V VALENCIA CF

The Chelsea starting XI was- Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard, Deco, Nicholas Anelka and Didier Drogba.

The Man United starting XI was- Edwin Van Der Sar, John O’Shea, Wes Brown, Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra, Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Anderson, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney.

The first shot of the game came from Ivanovic but Van Der Sar got down and saved it. Not long after that, Rooney was clean through on goal, Cole played Rooney onside but the referee’s assistant ruled him offside.

During the first half, Valencia claimed for a penalty after Terry brought him down in the box. Nothing was given but that was a stonewall penalty kick. It wasn't given and that was one of many things that went against United.

Anelka brought a good save out of Van Der Sar, he cut into the penalty area and unleashed a shot, Van Der Sar saved with his right hand.

There weren’t too many chances during the first half but I think over all United shaded it. Chelsea hadn’t really worried a back four who had been shaky during midweek, Sir Alex Ferguson would definitely have been the happier manager.

United’s first chance of the second half came when Anderson was fouled by Essien, he took the free-kick quickly. Anderson got the ball to Rooney, who ran at the Chelsea defence; Rooney and Giggs got in each other’s way but Rooney managed to keep hold of the ball, whilst Giggs was on the ground. Rooney found Valencia in the penalty area, he pulled the ball back to Rooney just inside the area and Rooney unleashed a shot, which went just wide of the post.

United continued to attack, another great moment was when Evra took the ball from halfway inside the United half, he passed to Giggs and Giggs cut inside, passed to Rooney who turned and curled in a shot, Cech had to palm it behind for a corner.

There was a bit of drama when the ball bounced past Brown, Drogba ran on and Evans headed the ball away. They both went to the ground, Drogba had been caught in the chest by Evan’s boot. The problem with Drogba is that you can never tell if he is injured or not, and that was a case of his reputation going before him. Vidic was still not on the pitch but he was on the sidelines with a smile on his face. When Drogba was on his feet, he was shown a yellow card.

The controversial moment came not long before the final whistle. 75 minutes in, Chelsea were handed a free-kick when Fletcher took the ball of Cole. From the resulting controversial free-kick, Chelsea scored. Lampard’s ball in was headed in by Terry. But Drogba was stood in an offside position and there were shouts that he touched the ball past Van Der Sar. Drogba was offside, he had already pulled Brown over, so understandably United were and still are unhappy.

From then on, United pushed for the equaliser, Chelsea were slowing the game down as much as possible and unfortunately we didn’t get the equaliser. United should have had at least a point out of the game yesterday, Chelsea have now gone five points clear.

The one good thing that came out of yesterday's was the performance of the team. We have a lot of injured players, the players who have come in did a fantastic job yesterday. Chelsea got the luck and most of the decisions, the title race isn't over and United will come back after the International break fighting.

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