Half-time: Chelsea 2 Man Utd 0

Samuel Eto’o scored twice to put Chelsea in a commanding position at Stamford Bridge.

Eto’o’s 16th-minute opener came when he went past Phil Jones and his shot from near the edge of the penalty area looped over keeper David de Gea via the boot of the unfortunate Michael Carrick.

Manchester United had made a lively start, with Petr Cech keeping out Ashley Young’s low shot after the wide-man had exchanged passes with Danny Welbeck.

United threatened after going behind and Patrice Evra fired into the side netting before Cech was called upon to make another save.

An off-balance Gary Cahill failed to cut out Adnan Januzaj’s low cross but Welbeck, who felt he was impeded by Cesar Azipilcueta, was unable to direct his shot past the Chelsea keeper.

Eto’o, on the other hand, made no mistake when found by Cahill’s low cross after a corner was only half-cleared in first-half injury time.

Striker Eto’o was given the nod by Jose Mourinho ahead of Fernando Torres, while the fit-again Branislav Ivanovic was another surprise inclusion after being all but ruled out by the Chelsea boss.

Torres is among the Blues substitutes, as is recent signing Nemanja Matic.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Luiz; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Eto’o.
Subs: Schwarzer, Cole, Mikel, Matic, Lampard, Mata, Torres.

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