Salvage act not enough for Ferguson
CHELSEA (3) vs MANCHESTER UNITED (3)
MANCHESTER UNITED staged a trademark act of escapology, coming from 3-0 down to rescue a draw – but their manager Alex Ferguson insisted it still felt like two points dropped as his side failed to keep pace with rivals and Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Unlucky to be trailing at half-time to a Jonny Evans own goal, United appeared destined for a fourth league defeat of the season when they conceded twice within six minutes of the re-start to Juan Mata and David Luiz.
A brace of Wayne Rooney penalties hauled the champions back into the contest, however, and substitute Javier Hernandez capped a thrilling comeback with an 84th minute header – yet the outcome still failed to satisfy his manager.
“It is two points dropped, but we played so well apart from the 10 minutes after half-time,” said Ferguson, whose side now trail City by two points.
“I perhaps should have played Hernandez from the start as when he came on he had the Chelsea defence on toast. But it’s not easy coming back from 3-0 down. That’s a massive effort.”
That United trailed at the break owed much to referee Howard Webb’s failure to spot Gary Cahill’s trip on Danny Welbeck, which prevented the United forward a clear goalscoring opportunity, and Daniel Sturridge’s ingenuity in the build-up to Chelsea’s 36th minute opener.
The former City forward twisted past Patrice Evra and when his cut-back flicked off David de Gea, Evans was powerless to prevent the ball bouncing off him and into the net.
Chelsea doubled their lead a minute after the re-start when Mata met a Fernando Torres cross with a thunderous volley at the far post and when Luiz’s header found the net via Rio Ferdinand’s shoulder soon after, a rout looked on the cards.
But two Rooney penalties, both converted with power and precision, within 11 minutes put a different complexion on proceedings.
Indeed, United were creating chances at will by the time Petr Cech denied Rooney a hat-trick, only for Ryan Giggs (left) to collect the rebound and cross for Hernandez, who powered a header past the Chelsea goalkeeper.