Man Utd: Match Report :Man Utd vs Chelsea

A Park strike early in the first half seemed set to put United on the road to victory, but Chelsea struck back in the second period with a goal from Kalou. There was no end of goalmouth action - not least for the Blues - but the points were shared

90'+4	Full time!! It's ended 1-1 at the Bridge, and Chelsea's unbeaten run at home carries on! It's a fair result to be honest, with United being the better side in the first half, and vice versa. However, it's Arsenal who will be happiest with this result, as Chelsea dropping points means that they remain top of the Barclays Premier League table. There are handshakes all around after a slightly ill-tempered game, and the home fans will go home slightly disappointed, but slightly relieved. United fans will be more worried now, as the result leaves them eight points off the top. Final score at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea 1 Man Utd 1.
	90'+3	Ronaldo with a bicycle kick! It's on target as well, but he took it from 18 yards, and it bounces on its way to Petr Cech.
	90'+1	Rooney with a brilliant defensive header! The ball seemed destined for Drogba's head, but Rooney jumped high enough to head the ball over the Ivorian!
	90'	Three minutes of injury time are all that's left for both sides to look for a winner. They're smiling somewhere in North London at the moment with this scoreline.
	90'	Yellow Card	Cristiano Ronaldo
	89'	Oh dear! Joe Cole has all the time in the world to pick out a Chelsea player from the right flank, but he grossly overhits it, and it's a throw to United.
	88'	The atmosphere is absolutely electric inside the stadium at the moment, and they're, bar a few, expecting a Chelsea winner!
	86'	Patrice Evra becomes the sixth United player to get booked on the day! Fairplay who?!
	86'	Yellow Card	Evra P.
	85'	Alex with a heroic block! Darren Fletcher takes aim and shoots from the edge of the area, but Alex puts his body on the line to block the goalbound shot! Amazing stuff!
	82'	United look pretty vulnerable at the back at the moment, and were at fault for the goal as well, with noone putting any sort of pressure on Kalou. Kusczak must take share of the blame as well. Kalou headed it in from five yards, surely a distance the 'keeper can cover at a cross.
	81'	Kalou again! This time it's well over the bar! He darts in for a loose ball in the United box, but Gary Neville and Johnny Evans combine to put enough pressure on the striker to scoop his shot well high.
	80'	GOAL!!! Chelsea are level through Salomon Kalou!! John Obi Mikel floats in a wonderful cross from a free kick, and with Kusczak staying put, Kalou has the easy job of heading it into the net from five yards! Game on now, and Chelsea are on the prowl!
	79'	Goal	Kalou S.
	78'	Yellow Card	Rooney W.
	77'	United hit the side netting! They counter down the left flank through Ronaldo, and with five teammates in the box, he plays a low cross in for Rooney, who is well past the far post. Cech hasn't got the near post covered though, but Rooney side foots it wide.
	75'	Substitution	Park J.	O'Shea J.
	74'	Substitution	Ballack M.	Kalou S.
	74'	Ballack! Just wide! A decent effort nevertheless from the Germany captain. He spun around and took the shot instinctively from just outside the area. And that will be his last contribution, as he's brought off for Salomon Kalou.
	73'	Anelka!!! Chelsea will not get an easier chance to score!! Joe Cole's cross beats every one and reaches Anelka at knee height with an open goal 4 yards away literally crying out for the ball, but he doesn't make any connection! The ball hits his trailing leg and goes away from goal! Some strikers could have put that away in their sleep!
	72'	Anelka hooks wide! Bosingwa gets a cross in from the right, but the Frenchman makes very little connection on the shot.
	69'	My oh my, what's John Terry doing?! He messes up a simple back pass to Petr Cech, and Cech has to race down the goal line to prevent it from going out for a corner! It's turning into a pressure cooker situation now, with twenty minutes to go. Chelsea's awesome home record is under severe threat.
	68'	The Chelsea wall do their job, and the free kick is deflected out for a corner.
	67'	John Obi Mikel makes his entry into the ref's book for a late challenge on Ronaldo, United have a free kick in Ronaldo range.
	67'	Yellow Card	Mikel J.
	65'	Joe Cole wastes a golden opportunity! A lofted pass sends him well clear of the defence, but he shoots straight at Kusczak! Anelka was unmarked inside the box as well, a simple cut back away!
	63'	Neville lunges in dangerously once again, but this time Ballack wins the ball, but his touch takes it past the goal line before he reaches it!
	61'	We're going at a rate of two fouls a minute at the moment, and this time it's resulted in a Chelsea free kick from a potentially dangerous position, but Lampard hits the first defender. Wasted!
	59'	Berbatov's booked now, for a cynical tug at Michael Ballack. Any red cards today, anyone?
	59'	Yellow Card	Berbatov D.
	58'	Bad tackle from Gary Neville! Anelka muscles past the United skipper near the corner flag, and nutmegs him superbly, before Neville hauls him down with a rash tackle. He's booked for his troubles.
	57'	Ronaldo has a bite at the cherry! He races in to the loose ball outside the Chelsea box, but his left footed attempt rolls well wide.
	57'	Yellow Card	Neville G.
	55'	And he arrives! Cristiano Ronaldo makes his comeback to the Premier League, replacing Paul Scholes. Hargreaves should move into the center of midfield now.
	55'	Substitution	Scholes P.	Cristiano Ronaldo
	54'	Drogba almost gets to Joe Cole's cross, but Ferdinand does brilliantly to block Drogba's path to the ball. Super defending from a player who's at the top of his game.
	53'	Park curls it over the bar! Rooney breaks into the Chelsea half, but he has to turn back in search for support, and Park eventually gets the ball at his feet at the corner of the keeper's box, but curls it well over the bar.
	52'	Cristiano Ronaldo is changing into his shirt now, as United prepare for the inevitable substitution. Meanwhile Chelsea continue to attack with Anelka, who is playing on the left now, but to no avail.
	49'	Ballack whips in a swirling cross from the left wing, but it's too deep for Drogba. Will Chelsea revert to their old style of "direct football", in desperate search of the equalizer?
	48'	Joe Cole tries to place the ball inside the far post from Anelka's cut back, but he miscues it, and Ferdinand intercepts easily.
	46'	And he's on! Drogba comes on for Malouda after some bickering with the fourth official. Apparently, he had a bracelet on which the fourth official didn't take to too kindly!
	46'	Substitution	Malouda F.	Drogba D.
	45'	Welcome back for the second half folks! Didier Drogba is ready to come on at the touchline, but for some reason the substitution's delayed, and the half kicks off.
	45'+3	Half time! The first 45 minutes are up, and it's United who lead through Park Ji Sung's goal. It's been an incident-packed half of football on this sunny afternoon here in West London, with Deco injuring himself during warm up, and the duo of Carvalho and Van Der Sar doing the same during the game. It promises to be a riveting second half, with the likes of Drogba, Kalou, and Ronaldo yet to come on. Join us in 15 minutes for the second half!
	45'+2	Ballack has a go with his left foot from distance, but he scuffs his shot just a touch, and Kusczak collects cleanly.
	45'+1	Park! That was a sweeping counter attacking move by the visitors, but Berbatov's pass to Park was just a little behind him, and his shot after cutting back in is blocked.
	45'	Three minutes of injury time are added on for the first half.
	44'	One for the cameras! Malouda, who was miles offside, goes for the bicycle kick with play halted, and Kusczak sings in the same tune and makes a diving save!
	42'	Ashley Cole claims a corner after his sliding tackle saw the ball ricochet of Hargreaves past the goal line, but it's a foul. It's been an intriguing battle between the two compatriots today.
	41'	Anelka! United lose the ball in midfield, and Anelka is free near the edge of the area on the right, but he opts to shoot from a tight angle when a cross would have been the better option. The ball goes well over the bar.
	40'	Now Kusczak spills it! Alex shoots from distance, and Kuszcak can't collect it cleanly. Ferdinand is there again though, to clear before Anelka could reach it.
	40'	Yellow Card	Ferdinand R.
	38'	Chelsea have been camped in the United half for the last 4-5 minutes, although their possession hasn't led to any real scoring opportunity. United meanwhile, look dangerous on the break.
	35'	Paul Scholes is booked for his second rash challenge. A little harsh for the midfielder, and he needs to be careful now. Lampard gets his head to the resultant free kick, but it loops straight into Kusczak's arms.
	35'	Yellow Card	Scholes P.
	33'	It's been one hell of an eventful half so far, especially when it comes to injuries. The game's getting scrappy too, with a number of rash tackles. One cant help get the feeling that this might boil over.
	32'	Substitution	Van der Sar E.	Kuszczak T.
	31'	Van Der Sar spills the ball in the area! Terry runs all the way upfield and his attempted pass ricochets its way to Van Der Sar, but he can't keep hold of it! Luckily for him, Ferdinand reaches it before any Chelsea player. Van Der Sar immediately signals to bench to be substituted. He seems to have come off worse after the clash with Malouda. Kusczak is putting on his shirt to come on.
	30'	Hargreaves brings Ashley Cole down on the flank, and Riley wants a word, but no yellow card shown there. That tackle seemed to have a touch of vengeance in it.
	27'	Malouda through on goal, he's brought down! No penalty! Malouda and Van Der Sar both make a beeline for a bouncing ball in the area, and Malouda seems to poke at it first before Van Der Sar crashes into him, but the ref doesn't give anything. It would have been a slightly harsh decision anyway, as Malouda's poke did hit Van Der Sar's body.
	22'	United have looked much brighter this half so far, and Chelsea haven't been able to put any real attacking move together. I might be repeating myself, but Deco's loss seems to have hurt their creative play immensely.
	19'	Joe Cole! In a rather impatient attempt on goal, the Englishman shoots from a difficult angle, but it takes a dangerous deflection off his marker and curls just over the bar.
	18'	GOAL!!! United deservedly take the lead!! Evra makes a darting run down the left, into the Chelsea box, and cuts it back for Berbatov, whose shot can only be parried by Cech straight into Park Ji Sung's path, who strokes the ball into the empty net!! It's one nil to United, and rightly so, they've seemed the more stable and balanced side so far.
	18'	Goal	Park J.
	16'	What a chance for United! Rooney is alone against two Chelsea defenders outside the Chelsea box, but he plays in a soft pass to Ferdinand of all who people, who's side footed attempt is deflected over the bar by Cech! The defender made a wonderful run upfield there to get into that one-on-one position against Cech!
	14'	We can inform you that Ricardo Carvalho has gone off with a knee problem, and is even being checked by Chelsea doctors for knee ligament damage. Bad news for Chelsea, this.
	13'	Substitution	Ricardo Carvalho	Alex
	12'	Hargreaves is down with an injury after Ashley Cole's tackle caught him on the foot. But Ricardo Carvalho seems to have injured himself and is going off! Alex is coming on for the Portuguese international in what could be an even bigger setback to Chelsea after losing Deco during warm up. Still no news on what exactly the injury is. More on that in a bit.
	9'	Cole hits the side netting! The match livens up in the spacve of one minute, this time with Joe Cole running through on goal and having a go from the edge of the area with just Van Der Sar to beat, but it's just wide! Van Der Sar was well beaten there.
	8'	Rooney!! Almost so embarrassing for Chelsea! Cech came a long way out to clear a long ball, but it fell straight to Berbatov, whose attempted shot was helped on by Rooney, but it went just wide of the post with Cech tracking back! Close!
	7'	No team is making a real impression in the opening minutes, and it seems like it's going to be one of those cagey affairs.
	5'	Fletcher!! The first real chance of the game sees Darren Fletcher hook his volley wide from Hargreaves' cross into the penalty area! That was sloppy play from Chelsea, as they lost the ball in their own half prior to the attack. Carvalho did just about enough to allow Fletcher an easy shot.
	4'	A great touch from Joe Cole sends Bosingwa racing clear down the right flank, but his cross is too deep for Nicolas Anelka. This might be a test for Chelsea, to lose Deco for such a big game.
	1'	United start brightly with a lot of build up play around the Chelsea box, and Darren Fletcher has a shot blocked as well. The Scot is playing in the center of midfield, with Owen Hargreaves on the right flank.
	0'	Welcome to Stamford Bridge folks, for Goal.com's live coverage of Chelsea vs Manchester United. Chelsea have suffered a huge blow here as Deco injured himself during warm up. Michael Ballack starts in his place (What a blow, eh?), whereas Ronaldo doesn't make the starting lineup for United, and is on the bench alongside Carlos Tevez. Gary Neville, despite the lack of regular football, leads the team onto the field. We're all set for "The Battle of the Bridge", and what a big game this is for United. Lose this, and they'll fall nine points behind Chelsea. Kick off!