Chelsea flex their muscles to the power of five

JOHN TERRY and Nicolas Anelka cannot decide who scored the winning goal, Alex Ferguson cannot believe it was given and Manchester United cannot understand how they lost.

But even so this match encapsulates why Chelsea, now five points clear at the top of the Premier League, are better equipped than any other team to win the battle for the title this season.

You could not possibly make that judgement based purely on the performances of the teams here because there is no doubt, as Ferguson was quick to point out, that United were the better side on the day and dominated in midfield where Carlo Ancelotti’s diamond formation looked vulnerable against a five-man line.

But there is something powerful and resilient about Chelsea at the moment that singles them out as the team to beat, even when they do not play to their full potential.

For over an hour they were hounded by Darren Fletcher, stretched by Ryan Giggs and sent close to the edge by the skill of Wayne Rooney. But when Manchester United made the mistake of allowing the match to develop, right at the death, into a thunderous and passionate finale Chelsea recognised their cue and relished an opportunity to battle their way to victory.

The 76th-minute winning goal was controversial.

Not only was Fletcher furious at the award of a free-kick on the left flank when he believed he had won the ball against Ashley Cole, but Didier Drogba looked suspiciously offside as Terry’s header from a Lampard free-kick, which also grazed the head of Anelka, fizzed past Edwin van der Sar.

It was yet another Roy of the Rovers moment for Terry, who had woken yesterday morning to newspaper allegations about his father dealing in drugs but was, as usual, able to put everything aside and save his energy for when it really mattered.

A red-faced Ferguson insisted Drogba had blocked van der Sar’s view and had to be interfering with play. But considering Drogba did not touch the ball it was always going to be a difficult decision for referee Martin Atkinson to give and United would do better to look at their own defending rather than begin yet another ill-advised campaign against a hapless official.

If only Ferguson’s side had shown more serenity in the previous 10 minutes they would surely have taken home at least a point from Stamford Bridge because until Chelsea were coaxed into a battle it was the visitors who looked in control.

Rooney had been the game’s major goal threat until then, seeing one curling effort well saved by Cech and another flash narrowly wide, while Giggs had wasted two good opportunities – the first when he lobbed a fine Fletcher pass over the bar in the first half and the second after the break when he took Rooney’s cute pass but chose to cross rather than shoot.

In contrast, Chelsea’s only serious effort had seen van der Sar save spectacularly from Anelka, who was dropping deeper and deeper in search of the ball as United’s grip on midfield tightened to strangulation point.

In the past, particularly under Luiz Felipe Scolari, you sense that Chelsea’s frustration would have boiled over and United would have punished them on the break but Ancelotti has the luxury of inheriting a team brimming with experience and burning with desire after three years without a title.

United, of course, no longer have the decisive pace of Ronaldo to take advantage of and, in truth, without the injured Berbatov they lacked ambition.

Perhaps Chelsea sensed that because the atmosphere, for so long one of frustration and tension, began to warm up when Giggs and Ivanovic clashed heads and then Drogba hurled himself into an aerial challenge with Jonny Evans only to find the United defender’s foot in his chest when he got there.

Atkinson booked Drogba for the initial foul but as the striker lay writhing on the floor he failed to spot Evans’ part in the incident and suddenly a match that had been limping to a draw – a result United had clearly set out to achieve – burst into life.

Terry’s goal – which could yet be handed to Anelka once viewed by the dubious goals panel – was followed by five more bookings, including one for Rooney for remonstrating too vehemently and one each for Carvalho and Evans in an incident which saw 12 or 14 players surge from all over the pitch to puff out their chests and stare each other out.

In those kind of battles Chelsea are always going to be the winners. There is no Roy Keane figure in the United side these days, no blood and thunder operator of the Terry ilk to put football to one side every now and again and just win a match on adrenalin.

But that is what Chelsea did and, whether they deserved it or not, the result still leaves them five points clear of their rivals in the Premier League and looking increasingly like the team to beat.

Ferguson, of course, wasted no time in suggesting it was the referee who lost the game for United but when the canny Scot sets off on one of those familiar rants he is almost always seeking to take the attention away from his team who, incidentally, have now lost three times away from home already this season.

Chelsea, in contrast, have won 11 home games in succession. They look the real deal.

REFEREE: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire) 7: Considering the obvious tension between the teams and the number of controversial decisions he had to make he did well – and kept 22 men on the pitch.

MATCH RATING: *** For an hour it was a disappointment but the last half hour was explosive and combative, reaching a crescendo with Chelsea’s winning goal.