Chelsea 3 Manchester United 3
Manchester United stunned Chelsea by storming back from 3-0 down to salvage a point at Stamford Bridge.
Javier Hernandez’s 84th-minute equaliser completed a remarkable recovery by the defending champions after Wayne Rooney had hauled them back into the match with two penalties.
Chelsea went ahead against the run of play courtesy of an own goal by Jonny Evans, who inadvertently turned in Daniel Sturridge’s low cross.
Less than 30 seconds into the second half, Juan Mata doubled the lead with a thumping volley from Fernando Torres’ wonderful cross.
Five minutes later, David Luiz headed in Mata’s free-kick to leave United shell-shocked.
But they hit back, with Rooney smashing home from the spot following Sturridge’s foul on Patrice Evra, and then sending keeper Petr Cech the wrong way after Branislav Ivanovic was adjudged to have tripped Danny Welbeck.
And as United surged forward in search of another goal, their persistence paid off when Hernandez headed in from Ryan Giggs’ cross.
Chelsea, with England defender Gary Cahill making his debut for the club in the absence of John Terry, looked solid for much of the game but once again sloppy defending from Andre Villas-Boas’ team proved costly.
They were all over the place in the closing stages and in the end were grateful to hear the final whistle.
Luck was on their side for the first goal, but lovely play by Mata created the opening.
The Spaniard cleverly turned and then found Sturridge, who beat Evra and pulled the ball back. Hapless keeper David de Gea failed to clear and the ball ended up in the net after bouncing off Evans.
The visitors had looked the better side and thought they should have been given a penalty when Welbeck went down under a challenge from Cahill.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was furious with referee Howard Webb’s decision not to award a spot-kick.
Worse followed for Ferguson early in the second half – much worse. Within six minutes of the restart his team were three goals behind.
But Rooney’s penalties set up a dramatic finish and Chelsea’s fragile defence was unable to withstand the pressure that followed.
Cech did well to push away a snap-shot from Rooney but while the home defence hesitated, Giggs quickly retrieved the ball and set up Hernandez, who made no mistake.
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This post was last modified on 07/02/2012