Chelsea moved to the top of the table with an impressive 2-1 win over rivals Manchester United in their title showdown at Old Trafford.
Cole & Drogba give Chelsea the edge
Chelsea moved to the top of the table with an impressive 2-1 win over rivals Manchester United in their title showdown at Old Trafford.
Joe Cole gave Chelsea the lead on 20 minutes with a clever back-heeled finish from Florent Malouda's cross in a first half dominated by the visitors.
Didier Drogba came off the bench to net a second 11 minutes from time even though it appeared the striker was offside as he latched onto Salomon Kalou's pass.
Manchester United substitute Federico Macheda pulled a goal back two minutes later when Cech could only parry Nani's cross into the path of the Italian who bundled the ball into the net.
United threw everything at Chelsea in the closing stages, but Carlo Ancelotti's men held on to move two points clear at the top of the table.
Without Wayne Rooney, there was no real bite in United's attack. And although the 34-goal striker is only out for a fortnight, by the time he returns his side's dreams of glory might be over, considering Chelsea now have a two-point advantage and a superior goal difference.
Since his recovery from a long-term knee injury, Cole has struggled to get back into the swing of things.
Fabio Capello claimed he was not the same player when he left the midfielder out of his England squad to face Egypt last month, raising extreme doubt over Cole's chances of making the World Cup.
Cole's admission that contract talks had broken down was a statement in itself, given it is hard to imagine Ancelotti allowing a pivotal player to find himself in such a position so close to him being allowed to leave on a free transfer.
Old Trafford has been mentioned as a potential destination should Cole leave Stamford Bridge this summer, so it was an opportunity to impress Sir Alex Ferguson, not that the United chief would have found the 18th-minute opener even vaguely admirable.
Having put his side's obvious failings in possession down to a one-off in Munich last week, Ferguson must have been worried to see the same fault reappearing quite so often, quite so soon.
There is no doubt the ankle injury Rooney suffered in Germany had a negative effect on United. But the fault lay much deeper, their play too ponderous to have any impact.
All across the midfield, United were wasteful in possession. And with Malouda giving Gary Neville a right old runaround, Chelsea took complete command.
The disappointment for Ancelotti must have been that his team did not make the most of their possession.
Edwin van der Sar denied Cole on one occasion and Nicolas Anelka had a couple of shots blocked but clear-cut chances were rare.
Opener
Even Chelsea's opening goal was not a golden opportunity in that sense. Malouda was invited to run into the home box and although Darren Fletcher eventually reacted, the Chelsea midfielder had the strength to hold him off and cut the ball back to the near post, where Cole got in front of Patrice Evra and found the net with a neat back flick.
It took United a long time to respond. And when the rally eventually came, it took the form of a couple of debatable penalty appeals and referee Mike Dean was not impressed either when Yuri Zhirkov chopped down Park Ji-sung and Dimitar Berbatov fell under Frank Lampard's challenge.
Had Paulo Ferreira shown more conviction when he raced to meet Cole's excellent through-ball at the start of the second half, the contest would have been over.
Instead, the full
