Blues smash United records

Man Utd 1 Chelsea 3

It was an all-too comfortable victory at Old Trafford that extended the gap between these two teams to 20 points and also sent the Premiership records tumbling.

Goals from Tiago, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Joe Cole overturned Ruud van Nistelrooy’s early opener and secured Chelsea’s 29th Premiership victory which took their points tally to 94 - both figures surpassing records set by United during their title-winning pomp. It was also Chelsea’s third win against United this season. And Alex Ferguson thinks that there is little to pick between the two teams.

In truth, United have never really been in the title race this season, despite their sporadic flashes of coruscating form. Chelsea’s lead has always been just too great for Ferguson’s team to claw back and the United manager claimed in his programme notes that defeat at Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the season was a fatal blow to their hopes of securing their ninth Premiership title.

That statement perhaps failed to recognise Chesea’s dominance of the Premiership throughout a season in which they have broken records and stand to break more before the curtain falls on their campaign at Newcastle on Sunday. Still, on Ferguson’s insistence, the United players welcomed Chelsea onto the pitch with a guard of honour to pay tribute to their first league championship in 50 years. Never one to miss the opportunity to deliver a psychological blow, maybe Ferguson also saw the guard of honour as a chance to remind his own players of where he wants them to be next season. Applauding your rivals for claiming the prize you desire most can hardly be easy.

Chelsea’s noisy supporters gleefully rammed home the fact that their team were now the champions. “You’re not champions anymore,” they chanted at their United counterparts, so it was little surprise that Ferguson’s team started in determined mood as they set about putting a marker down for next season by inflicting only Chelsea’s second league defeat of the season.

Cristiano Ronaldo, United’s Portuguese winger, saw two long range efforts test Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini before Ruud van Nistelrooy opened the scoring on eight minutes with his first Premiership goal since November 27. The champions had good reason to claim for offside as Van Nistelrooy flicked Wayne Rooney’s cross past Cudicini from inside the six yard box. Van Nistelrooy had managed to stay onside, but Ronaldo was clearly offside at the far post.

Referee Graham Poll ignored the Chelsea protests and allowed the goal to stand after glancing across at his linesman, but the goal did not signal a United onslaught While Liverpool overcame Chelsea in last week’s Champions League semi-final at Anfield with a combination of raw passion from the terraces and immense effort on the pitch, United too often allowed Chelsea to regroup when they broke forward. United’s forward play lacks pace at times and their ponderous passing movements in the final third hardly worried the Chelsea back-line.

Not that Chelsea were causing United too many problems at the other end, and keeper Roy Carroll’s inactivity probably contributed to his statuesque attempt at keeping out Tiago’s stunning equaliser on 18 minutes. The Portugual midfielder had space and time 30-yards from goal and he used both to spectacular effect as he beat Carroll with a searing drive from long range that arrowed into the top corner. Roy Keane’s failure to close Tiago down quicker and Carroll’s inability to Tiago’s intentions both helped the midfielder score what was still an amazing goal.

Tiago’s strike lifted Chelsea and they began the second half much brighter than United. Cole saw a low drive from 18 yards well saved by Carroll, while defender Glen Johnson wastefully spurned a golden chance to score when he sprung the offside trap to latch onto Cole’s through-ball inside the penalty area. Unmarked, Johnson dithered in possession and United were able to clear the danger.

Worryingly for Ferguson, a team minus only Ryan Giggs and Gabriel Heinze was having little joy in getting behind the Chelsea rearguard and it needed a long-range effort from Darren Fletcher which rattled the crossbar on 54 minutes to give United a glimpse of goal.

Chelsea were happy to sit back and soak up United’s benign pressure and Mourinho’s hit the home side with a classic counter-attack on 61 minutes. Tiago’s through-ball found Gudjohnsen, who beat the offside trap, and the striker coolly beat Carroll with a nerveless finish from 12 yards.

As Chelsea grew, United wilted and there will have to be an awful lot of rebuilding on the pitch at Old Trafford if they are to return to the summit of the Premiership.

And just to rub that fact in, Chelsea rounded off their victory when Frank Lampard cut out Wes Brown’s loose ball before crossing for Cole to beat Carroll from six yards eight minutes from time.