UNITED HOME FORUM IS GOING ON AND ON

Manchester Utd 3-1 Chelsea: Torres in miss of century as champions win

Published 18:04 18/09/11 By MirrorFootball
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Manchester United claimed a record-equalling 18th successive home win to march two points clear at the Premier League summit with victory at Old Trafford. And that does not even scratch the surface of a day of drama against Chelsea.

First-half goals from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney - his ninth of the season - proved enough for the hosts.

However, Rooney also had a 'Moscow moment' missing a second-half penalty, slipping as he went to strike it, Fernando Torres scored only his second Chelsea goal, then unbelievably fired wide of a completely empty net after rounding David de Gea.

De Gea had already repelled a marginally less glaring chance for Ramires and in stoppage time, Dimitar Berbatov was denied by Cole, whose earlier poor challenge on Javier Hernandez had led the Mexican to hobble off in considerable pain.



It all ended with United matching an achievement from the 1904-05 season, when they were a Second Division club.

Correctly, Ferguson observed this was United's toughest test to date.

The same could also be said of Villas-Boas' Chelsea though. And they came up short.

Chelsea did carve out a succession of opportunities that at one stage turned the game into a personal contest between the Blues and De Gea.

The save that prevented Ramires prodding into an open goal was the best, drawing applause from Peter Schmeichel in the directors' box, and he knows a thing or two about the pressure of keeping net at Old Trafford.

In truth, Chelsea should have scored that one. Torres did his bit, rolling the ball across the box. A better placed Daniel Sturridge could not believe Ramires had nipped in ahead of him as the goal gaped.

That was the trouble though. Chelsea needed Torres to convert those chances, not create them. He eventually did. And then contributed to one of those bloopers videos that will haunt him for the remainder of his career.

As Chelsea pressed, United created nothing. Their opener already converted after slack marking that angered John Terry and must have alarmed Villas-Boas.

There was nothing special about Ashley Young's eighth minute free-kick, which was floated to the far post.


Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-Utd-3-1-Chelsea-Fernando-Torres-in-open-goal-miss-of-the-century-as-Chris-Smalling-Nani-and-Wayne-Rooney-shine-article801268.html#ixzz1YKUjHJUt
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