9 Men Chelsea No Match For United

Chelsea 2 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Chelsea: Mata (44), Ramires (52)
Manchester United: Luiz (og 3), Van Persie (12), Hernandez (75)

Red Cards
Chelsea: Ivanovic (63), Torres (68)

Team: De Gea, Rio, Evans, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Cleverley (Hernandez 65), Young, Valencia, Rooney (Giggs 74), Van Persie

What a farcical game. Referee Clattenburg sent off two Chelsea players and we bearly beat a 9-men Chelsea.

The game started off really well for us. Van Persie smashed a shot into the upright and Luiz turned the rebound into the net. Van Persie got his name on the scoresheet a little later after turning in Valencia's cross.

We played brilliantly and were fully deserved of the two goal advantage. It was a far far cry from the previous games where we started slow and had to claw our way back into the game. But pound for pound, Chelsea is probably the better team and when they finally shook off the shock of conceding two early goals, they started to play the game.

And boy did they play the game. They were so damn good that it was just a matter of time before they got back on level terms. We were left chasing shadows and that's a gross understatement. De Gea was called into action numerous times and he did a masterful job at that.

We were under such enormous pressure that frustration finally got to Rooney as he fouled Hazard right outside our box. From the ensuing freekick, Mata pulled one back for the home team. The half time break did nothing to break the relentless pressure that Chelsea put us under.

On the 52nd minute, Ramires levelled the scores. Kentona and I were left shaking our heads and wondering just how many this rampant Chelsea team would put past our defence. We weren't bad on the night, but they were THAT good. We had looked good for 30 minutes, but once they realised they had a job on their hands and gotten those shock goals off their system, they were, to paraphrase Robert Palmer's hit song, simply irresistable.

Just as the game probably would have gone out of our reach, Van Persie made a spectacular pass that sent Ashley Young off to the races. Ivanovic was possibly a tad bit unlucky to get a red card as he clumsily brought Young down while in the process of avoiding contact. It wasn't a cynical tackle but according to the letter of the law, he was rightfully given his marching orders. Personally, abit of common sense could've helped.

Even with ten men, Chelsea looked like the better team. That was when the game turned on it's head. Evans came into contact with Torres and Torres fell like a sack of potatoes. We feared the worst for Evans but the referee instead gave Torres his second yellow for a dive. Much has been talked about with regards to diving in the previous few weeks and Clattenburg took a stern approach to it today. The replays were non-conclusive and once again I felt a common sense approach could have been the order of the day. If it happened to United, I would have been screaming bloody murder.

You would think that against an opponent with nine men, it would be easy pickings for us, yet it wasn't. It took an offside looking goal by Hernandez to settle the game. Left to chase the game, Chelsea threw caution to the wind and left themselves open at the back, but we just could finish off the game. If anything, Chelsea looked damn threatening when they came forward, but with only nine men, it was just one giant step too much for them.

I'm just glad we won this game to close the gap to a single point. We started off brilliantly but had to ride our luck before everything just went our way. The result was good, the process was bewildering and I'm left worried at how we're going to cope with Arsenal next week.