United put three past woeful Blues
After a host of 1-0 wins, Manchester United turned on the style against Chelsea
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Liverpool wasted the chance to increase their lead at the top of the Premier League as they were held to a goalless draw away at Stoke City. |  |
Sunday, 11, Jan 2009 09:08
Manchester United have cranked up the pressure on their title rivals with a 3-0 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford.
Goals from Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney, and Dimitar Berbatov moves the champions into third spot, five points behind leaders Liverpool but with two games in hand.
The Blues, whose woeful record against the big four this season continues, remain in second place and are four points behind the Reds.
But Sir Alex Ferguson will end the weekend as the happiest manager after capitalising on Liverpool's failure to beat Stoke City on Saturday.
And United will feel it was a deserved victory after carving out the better chances against the Blues after a slow start.
The visitors, watched by former boss Jose Mourinho in the crowd, enjoyed more possession in the early stages with Frank Lampard firing a shot from distance inches wide while Michael Ballack's free-kick was saved by Edvin van der Sar.
United sprung into life on the half-hour mark with Berbatov shooting straight at Petr Cech while John Terry blocked Park Ji-Sung's effort.
The turning point came on the stroke of half-time when Ronaldo headed in Ryan Giggs' corner but the goal was ruled out by the assistant referee. The corner was retaken and Vidic ghosted past a static Blues defence to head into the net.
The second-half was a similarly tense affair but United punished some more schoolboy defending from the visitors to double their lead when
Rooney volleyed in Patrice Evra's cross on 63 minutes.
In contrast United, despite missing Rio Ferdinand, dealt effectively with everything Chelsea threw at them with Gary Neville blocking substitute Nicolas Anelka's shot while Vidic repeated the trick to deny Drogba.
The Blues should have pulled a goal back on 73 minutes but a subdued Drogba missed the ball from eight yards out.
Chelsea's defending was summed up by Ricardo Carvalho mis-controlling Cole's pass allowing Ronaldo to fizz a shot from distance inches wide.
And the Red Devils sealed the rout on 87 minutes when a unmarked Berbatov volleyed in Ronaldo's free-kick from close range, to condemn Chelsea to their first away defeat of the season.