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United 1 Chelsea 2

Didier Drogba came off the bench to strike a hammer blow to United’s title chances with a controversial winner which secured a 2-1 victory for Chelsea at Old Trafford.

The Ivorian was clearly offside when he latched onto Salomon Kalou’s pass, but was allowed to carry on and fire what could be a hugely decisive goal in the title race. Joe Cole had earlier put the visitors ahead, before Drogba doubled the advantaged soon after entering the action in the second half. Federico Macheda, who had saved United this time year with a stunning winner against Aston Villa, gave the Reds hope but his goal was too little too late for United, who lacked a real cutting edge without their main man Wayne Rooney up front.

Sir Alex made three changes to the side that started in Munich with one a well-reported enforced change. In the absence of Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, as expected, occupied the lone striker role with support close behind from Ji-sung Park. Chelsea, meanwhile, opted to leave top scorer Didier Drogba on the bench with Carlo Ancelotti sticking with the eleven that put seven past Aston Villa last weekend.

Chelsea started the brighter of the two sides with Alex heading wide on four minutes from a Frank Lampard corner. The early exchanges were dominated by the Blues who enjoyed good spells of possession, while United, just as against Bayern, were a tad careless with theirs.

Spurred on by a vocal Old Trafford faithful, the Reds carved out their first opening on nine minutes when Antonio Valencia picked out the unmarked Berbatov in the area after good work down the right.