Four-midable
^Ryan Giggs celebrates after scoring the equaliser^
Man United have sent the Chelsea fans and players back home to London after being on the end of a 4-1 thumping. Goals from Giggs, Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo gave Man United a comfortable 3 points at Old Trafford.
But it wasn't a simple walk in the park for United for the whole match. Lampard got the first chance of the match in the 3rd minute. He controlled the ball on the edge of the box but his tame shot was straight at Van Der Sar.
Man United had a good chance to take the lead in the 12th minute. Ronaldo crossed the ball into the box and Rooney headed the ball over Cech but it came back it play off the post for Carvalho to clear.
Rooney had another good chance to score around 10 minutes later when he was one-on-one with Cech but his shot was too close to the keeper and he saved it.
From this chance, Chelsea broke quickly. The ball was played through the midfield and then down the side of the defence to Lampard. He rolled the ball into the path of Ballack and he took one touch before slotting it into the bottom corner.
Many thought that Man United would be going into the break 1-0 down but two goals in the space of 3 minutes meant that United would be going in 2-1 up.
The first goal was caused my a defensive blunder. Rooney got the ball about 35 yards from goal, both Carvalho and Bosingwa came to Rooney which left a big gap behing them for someone to run into. Giggs ran into the space, Rooney threaded the ball past the defenders to Giggs and he ran at Cech before smashing the ball into the goal.
Rooney got the second in first half injury time. Carrick dribbled the ball into the box before smashing the ball at goal. It hit the front post and rolled across the face of goal for Rooney to tap into the net and give Man United the lead going into half-time.
Both teams were pretty even in the early moments of the second half with both sides not creating a clear cut chance. But it was Man United that got the chance and they took it putting them into a comanding lead.
Tevez received the ball about 40 yards from goal and ran at Terry. Once he got past him, he took a shot from 25 yards. It looked to be going wide but it just curled at the end and went in off the post.
Ronaldo put the final nail in Chelsea's coffin 15 minutes from time. Evra got the better of Bosingwa and managed to get his cross in. The Chelsea defenders all went to the front post leaving Ronaldo all alone at the back. He had time to set himself before volleying the ball into the back of the net.
Sir Alex brought on Fabio, Rafael and Nani in the last 10 minutes for Giggs, Neville and Ronaldo. Nani had a good chance to grab another goal late on but his chip wasn't high enough and Cech grabbed the shot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Man United
Van Der Sar - 7
Neville - 6
Ferdinand - 7
Vidic - 6
Evra - 7
Ronaldo - 8
Carrick - 6
Scholes - 6
Giggs - 6
Tevez - 7
Rooney - 8
Subs
Fabio - 3
Rafael - 6
Nani - 2
Chelsea
Cech - 5
Bosingwa - 4
Carvalho - 6
Terry - 6
A. Cole - 6
J. Cole - 6
Essien - 5
Deco - 5
Ballack - 7
Lampard - 8
Drogba - 5
Subs
Malouda - 6
Anelka - 4
Cambiasso - 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
MU---CHE
10 - Shots - 12
7 - On Target - 7
48% - Possesion - 52%
7 - Tackles - 15
0 - Fouls - 0
0 - Yellows - 0
0 - Reds - 0
Goals
29' Ballack - CHE
42' Giggs - MU
45' Rooney - MU
65' Tevez - MU
74' Ronaldo - MU
Subsitutions
65' Deco <> Malouda
65' Drogba <> Anelka
76' Carvalho <> Cambiasso
79' Neville <> Rafael
79' Giggs <> Fabio
79' Ronaldo <> Nani
Bookings
N/A
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rooney - 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Derby 2-1 Portsmouth
Charlton 0-4 Everton
Newcastle 3-0 Fulham
Wigan 1-2 Middlesbro
Blackburn 0-3 Bolton
Man City 1-0 Liverpool
Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland
A. Villa 4-2 West Ham
Reading 1-2 Tottenham