Chelsea punish United shortcomings

Chelsea 3 Man Utd 1

If further evidence was required of the diverging fortunes of Chelsea and Manchester United, this game provided it in spades.

While Samuel Eto’o’s hat-trick maintained Chelsea’s position within two points of leaders Arsenal, United are clinging to the coat-tails of the leading group, their plight illustrated, painfully from Moyes’ point of view, by the way in which Mourinho spoke of his hope that the Old Trafford club could aid Chelsea’s title challenge by taking points off their rivals and in doing so, claw their way into the top four.

United aren’t used to being patronised, but they had few grounds for complaint at Stamford Bridge while Mourinho was entitled to a feeling of superiority after his side demonstrated the composure, resolve and, unexpectedly given their problems up front this season, the striker’s nous to claim three points.

Eto’o deserved whatever praise went his way for scoring two opportunist goals at badly defended set-pieces, opening the scoring with a deflected shot after creating a good opening for himself. It was impossible to ignore the fact that United’s defence was worryingly porous.

Ahead against the run of play after 17 minutes, Chelsea made sure of victory either side of the break and Javier Hernandez’s 78th strike proved meaningless in the context of the game. Nemanja Vidic’s dismissal in the 90th minute only added to United’s misery.

It was hard to find fault with the way United started the game. Moyes’s side immediately displayed a tempo and level of intensity too often missing from their play this season, denying Chelsea the chance to settle and ensuring the opening period was played out almost entirely in home territory.

Moyes’s decision to include Ashley Young in his starting line-up had raised eyebrows but the much-maligned winger started impressively, linking well with Adnan Januzaj and Danny Welbeck and forcing an early save from Petr Cech after a neat one-two with Welbeck had unpicked the Blues’ defence.

United’s problem, however, was their inability to transform their tidy build-up play into clear chances and, with Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie absent, it was asking too much of the outstanding Januzaj to carry the burden of providing the team’s creative spark.

It would soon emerge, though, that there were bigger concerns for Moyes at the other end of the pitch. Chelsea had barely ventured out of their own half during the opening 17 minutes, but when they did force United to back-track, they found the visitors’ defence to be unexpectedly flimsy and Eto’o took full advantage, albeit with the help of a generous deflection.

There should have been little danger to Moyes’s team when Eto’o picked up a loose ball following Nemanja Vidic’s defensive header 40 yards from goal. The forward advanced down United’s left before cutting inside after wrong-footing the ponderous Phil Jones with the simplest of sidesteps. Given a sight of goal, Eto’o took aim and was fortunate to see his effort loop off Michael Carrick’s boot and over the stranded David De Gea.

At that point United could consider themselves fortunate. Later, after two more alarming lapses, they could claim no such excuse.

The goal transformed the balance of the game. The drive and conviction disappeared from United’s play and, having been stretched by the early assault, Chelsea appeared comfortable in soaking up the best the visitors could throw at them. Alarmingly for Moyes, that amounted to little more than a number of dangerous crosses Januzaj that Welbeck was unable to convert.

Welbeck complained he was fouled by Cesar Azpilicueta as he took aim eight yards out and may have had a case. Similarly, the visitors could legitimately complain that David Luiz should have received two yellow cards during the opening period. Moyes’s major gripe though, was the poor marking that allowed Eto’o to put Chelsea two up immediately before half-time.

A Luiz free-kick was deflected off the defensive wall for a corner and, having cleared the initial cross, the visitors lost concentration when Gary Cahill whipped in a low cross towards Eto’o who had directed the ball goalwards long before Vidic arrived with a belated challenge.

Mourinho was in familiar territory. His unbeaten league record at Stamford Bridge was not going to be threatened and he was able to dismiss the usual barrage of abuse from the visiting supporters with a mixture of amusement and disdain, especially when Eto’o put the game emphatically beyond reach less than four minutes after the restart.

And, once again, it was inexplicably easy for Chelsea. A right wing corner from Willian was met by a towering header from Cahill – towering as he had been able to elude his marker – De Gea parried and Eto’o reacted first from a yard out.

It had long been apparent that there would be no rousing fightback from United and so it proved. Hernandez diverted Phil Jones’s shot past Cech in the 78th minute but the response was too little, too late. Vidic may have been unfortunate to receive a red card for a trip on Eden Hazard but Moyes was left with bigger issues to grapple with. CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Cech 6; Ivanovic 6, Cahill 7, Terry 8, Azpilicueta 7; Ramires 7, Luiz 5; Willian 8 (Matic 85,6), Oscar 6 (Obi 68,6), Hazard 7; Etoo 9 (Torres 79, 6).

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea 7; Rafael 6, Vidic 6, Evans 5, Evra 6; Carrick 6, Jones 5; Valencia 5, Januzaj 8, Young 5 (Hernandez 56,6); Welbeck 6.

Referee: Phil Dowd