Chelsea 2 Manchester Utd 1:MANCHESTER UNITED were like a tipsy tightrope walker as they balanced title ambitions against Champions League aspirations. They kept their poise out of sheer habit for a while but it was no surprise when they fell. It is that weakness as much as the outcome that stimulates hope of the Premier League trophy for Chelsea, who had an intensity and quality the visitors never matched.
The tolerances to which Alex Ferguson works have become ever finer. United will be champions, at worst on goal difference, so long as they beat West Ham United at home and Wigan Athletic away. Their rivals' run-in is more gruelling, since they are bound next Monday for St James' Park, but Ferguson knows that a fixture list is not a set of guarantees.
United will have to start showing the enterprising trait in their character. It was suppressed to fairly good effect in the goalless draw at Camp Nou but Chelsea could not be shackled as Barcelona were. Perhaps Ferguson, like the rest of us, may conceivably have underestimated Avram Grant. The amiable chat between the managers of these clubs in the moments before kick-off would have been unthinkable if Jose Mourinho were still the boss at Stamford Bridge.
Grant should qualify for one of Ferguson's most baleful stares now. The victors really did shine with the verve that the owner, Roman Abramovich, desires. It was a benefit that Chelsea had a day's more recuperation than United, thanks to the staggering of the Champions League programme, and could look forward to 24 hours' extra rest before the second leg of their semi-final, with Liverpool. United are up against Barcelona tomorrow and it was no mystery that Ferguson should make changes to spread the load.
The detail of the planning, however, is open to review. Wayne Rooney is now feeling the effects of his hip injury again. Was it wise that he should be included from the outset while Cristiano Ronaldo entered the field from the bench? Maybe, however, the Portuguese would have been subdued whenever he had been used. The match, after all, was still on level terms when the winger replaced Rooney.
Nothing much worked in United's favour. Nemanja Vidic had to be replaced with 14 minutes gone after being bloodied and dazed by an accidental knee to the chin from Didier Drogba. Chelsea, even so, did not prevail through luck. They had the tempo and alertness to impose their will through sustained attacking. The breakthrough at the end of the first half demonstrated how wary the visitors were.
When Drogba is fully engaged he has every attribute a striker could ask for. He showed his strength in the build-up to the first goal and, with Wes Brown and Mikael Silvestre standing off him, picked out Michael Ballack's run from midfield for the German to head into the right corner.
Ballack was also to convert the penalty that won the match. With Frank Lampard absent following the death of his mother, it was Ballack who was crucial to Chelsea's threat from midfield. Chelsea were also animated in the forward line and Joe Cole had struck the bar in the 21st minute after an attempted clearance ricocheted to him.
So subjugated had the visitors been that it seemed logical that they had little to do with their own equaliser after 56 minutes. Ricardo Carvalho had defended magnificently, covering John Terry so well that it was impossible to detect how much injuries have taken out of the captain this season. Even Carvalho's anticipation, though, could not lead him to expect that Paulo Ferreira, just inside his own half, would play a free-kick back to him.
Without looking, Carvalho elected to flick a pass inside to his fellow central defender Terry and instead gifted Rooney possession.
Rooney raced clear and left Terry trailing before placing an impeccable finish low into the net. With a draw at Stamford Bridge, United would have required merely one win to retain the title.
They were more at ease for a spell. Ferguson and his assistant, Carlos Queiroz, were both adamant afterwards that it was the referee, Alan Wiley, who undermined their side, particularly when no penalty was given as Ballack grappled with Ronaldo. While that ire was genuine, the manager is not the sort to forget a good grievance can galvanise a team and its supporters. It might also take their minds off Chelsea's superiority.
Ballack epitomised that. When a Michael Essien cross was halted by the arm of Michael Carrick, Grant's team had their penalty. Edwin van der Sar sought to waste time and was cautioned but he had been delaying the inevitable.
United had the heart to react but Ashley Cole and substitute Andriy Shevchenko cleared late efforts from Ronaldo and Darren Fletcher off the line. The sight of the striker in such a position illustrated how much Chelsea had committed themselves to reinvigorating their run for the title.
