Man Utd         1-2     Chelsea
Macheda 81              Cole 20
Drogba 79

Man Utd’s title hopes took a serious blow as a storng performance from Chelsea meant they leapfrogged the Champions to take a 2 point lead into the final 6 games of the season.

Without Rooney, Man Utd looked weak and ineffective. Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs both started in a paceless midfield, despite Scholes playing 90 minutes against Bayern in midweek. Lampard, Mikel,  Malouda and Deco controlled large portions of the game and although the tenacious Darren Fletcher did well to break up play often, Chelsea had too much.

Sir Alex complained that United were hard done by the referee when Drogba’s goal, eventually  the decider was awarded despite a clear offside, but in truth United were lucky to escape a penalty decision when Gary Neville bumbled into Anelka midshot and Macheda’s goal was clearly handball. That said, Ji-Sung Park’s driving run into the Chelsea box should have earnt a penalty too.

The Champiosn haven’t relinquished their crown just yet, but are now reliant on Chelsea to slip up. One such slip may just come at Anfield in early May – Liverpool could still be pushing for fourth place, in which case this would be a must win game for them – could they do united a favour?

Full BBC Sport Match Report