Wayne Rooney: Ramires blocks a shot from the United striker
Wayne Rooney turned in an all-action display for Manchester United at home to Chelsea on Monday, but the game ended 0-0.
The
England striker started at Old Trafford against the club who have twice
tried to sign him this summer, and was at the heart of almost all of
United's best moves.
However, resolute defending from both teams prevented any real
clear-cut chances, and the match was more notable for a series of
penalty appeals - none of which inspired referee Martin Atkinson to
point to the spot.
Best of the match
- Man of the Match: United skipper Nemanja Vidic made 13 effective clearances - two more than his Chelsea counterpart John Terry - and was the most accurate passer of the ball on the pitch.
- Moment of the Match: On a night of several penalty shouts, the biggest came when Cleverley powered a shot into Lampard's arm, but referee Martin Atkinson wasn't convinced.
- Miss of the Match: Danny Welbeck was presented with a sight of goal inside the area but he couldn't balance himself well enough to get his shot on target.
- Talking Point: Despite his unsettled summer, Wayne Rooney was given a warm reception by United fans and put in a great shift. Is the transfer saga definitely over?
It was a night for centre-backs - United's Nemanja Vidic and Blues
skipper John Terry were the outstanding performers - and Jose Mourinho
will have come away the happier of the two managers.
Chelsea move a point clear of Liverpool at the top of the early table
having played three games, while David Moyes' United rise to fourth.
With Mourinho having left Fernando Torres and Romelu Lukaku on the
bench - along with Juan Mata - Chelsea struggled to hold the ball up in
the first half.
The chances they created came courtesy of Oscar, who schemed
intelligently in front of United's four-man defence and twice brought
straight-forward saves out of David de Gea.
United threatened more but with Terry producing a towering performance, sights of Petr Cech's goal were equally rare.
Robin van Persie should have had a corner when his shot flicked off
Branislav Ivanovic, then sent a header over before Tom Cleverley's
rising drive was watched on its way by Cech.
Ashley Cole and Antonio Valencia were both fortunate to escape
bookings from Atkinson, who did show a yellow card to Kevin de Bruyne
for a challenge on Robin van Persie that left the Chelsea man with a cut
lip.
In the second half, Danny Welbeck curled an ambitious effort over
before lifting a more delicate attempt just wide from Rooney's short
pass.
Both sides had desperate penalty appeals, United when Tom Cleverley's
shot struck Frank Lampard on the arm, Chelsea after Cole hit the deck
under a perceived shirt-pull from Jones.
In the first instance, Lampard was far too close to Cleverley for
Atkinson to award United anything. In the second, Cole was lucky not to
get booked for diving, such was the minimal contact which preceded his
fall.
The introduction of Torres on the hour mark failed to change much, so
Rooney's lung-bursting run back to a corner flag to rob Ramires brought
a standing ovation.
It took Rooney some time to get forward after that but when he did,
he brought a full length save out of Cech, before delivering the corner
that Welbeck should have threatened with rather than screwing a header
back where it had come from.
Van Persie had one last shot before an unsatisfactory game was brought to its conclusion.
Chelsea move on to face Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich for the UEFA
Super Cup in Prague on Friday night - the Blues' next Premier League
game is not until September 14th, at Everton - while Moyes takes United
to meet old rivals Liverpool on Sunday.
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