vs
Man Utd 1-1 Chelsea
Ricardo Carvalho's second-half header prevented leaders Manchester
United from going six points clear of Chelsea.
Louis Saha gave United a first-half lead after a wonderful piece of
skill, bending the ball past Carlo Cudicini.
The game developed an intriguing ebb and flow in the second half as
Saha twice went close, while Frank Lampard rained in a series of
shots in reply.
And Carvalho earned Chelsea that point when he powered a header
past Edwin van der Sar from a Frank Lampard corner.
If United had the better of the first half, Chelsea were well worth
the draw given their impressive second-half display.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho brought on Arjen Robben for Geremi at
the restart, a switch that entailed Michael Essien dropping to
right-back.
The highlight of the opening half was Saha's exquisite goal.
When Rooney threaded a pass through to the Frenchman, with Carvalho
and John Terry providing a defensive shield for Cudicini, there
seemed minimal danger.
But Saha quickly switched the ball to his left foot, before bending
a shot round Carvalho and past Cudicini's outstretched hand.
On 70 minutes Carvalho's thumping header hauled Chelsea
level.
The Portuguese defender rose above Heinze to meet Lampard's corner
and Saha standing on the line was unable to divert the ball to
safety.
Indeed Saha's headed intervention might have taken the ball away
from Van der Sar, who had thrown himself to his right to try and
save Carvalho's header.
With a quarter of an hour to go the anonmyous Shevchenko was
withdrawn to replaced by Joe Cole, but the change failed to yield a
winner for Chelsea.
