Manchester United’s title hopes were dealt a blow last night as they missed the chance to go seven points clear of second place Arsenal in the Premier League. They slumped to their second defeat of the season at the hands of Chelsea. A spirited performance from Chelsea enabled a comeback from 1-0 down after Rooney scored in the first half. A superb volley from new signing David Luiz and a Frank Lampard penalty meant Chelsea left Stamford Bridge with three points.

Nemanja Vidic’s sending off will only add to United’s worries, they have an injury prone back line as it is. He will miss Sunday’s battle with Liverpool, a crucial fixture for United, but they will be confident they can pick up points. Rooney scored an acute finish from outside the box last night, David Luiz gave Rooney too much space on the edge of the area and he turned to finish in style. His 25-yard strike came after he managed to avoid punishment for his elbowing incident at the weekend. David Luiz did however cause Rooney problems throughout the game as he man marked the Englishman.

After the break it was David Luiz who equalised for Chelsea. He volleyed low inside the area to beat the United keeper Edwin van der Sar after an Essien corner. As expected Torres started up front with Anelka but neither player looked like scoring. Anelka was replaced by Drogba, his presence definitely lifted the Chelsea attack and Chelsea looked confident they would grab the second. Chris Smalling tripped Yuri Zhirkov in the penalty area on the 80th minute, Lampard then stepped up to hit a thunderous effort into the back of the net making the final score 2-1. Chelsea had other opportunities to score in the game were it not for some Vidic and van der Sar acrobatics on the United goal mouth.

All in all it was a great fixture for the neutral, plenty of efforts on goal, lots of big challenges and only United’s second loss of the season. This result will spice up the final quarter of the season, the top five now battle out for UEFA Champions League football. Chelsea go one point ahead of Tottenham but both sides have a game in hand against Manchester City so it really is very tight. City are on 50 points, Chelsea are on 48 and Tottenham are just below in fifth with 47.

Ryan Giggs has now equalled Bobby Charlton’s league appearance record for United; they both sit on 606 league appearances. Just one more appearance this season in the league and he becomes United’s highest appearing player in all competitions. An unbelievable achievement!

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