United beat Chelsea to get one hand on Premier League crown

A minute or so before a cacophonous roar greeted the final whistle, a round of applause echoed around Old Trafford. This was more than polite clapping, the decibel level rising in a way that devoted supporters could keep their decorum.

Up in the directors' box Sir Bobby Charlton and his wife Lady Norma joined in. It was all too apt: this was a club legend witnessing history being made by Manchester United.

Factually speaking, Saturday’s trip to Blackburn Rovers should prove the day the Premier League trophy was claimed. To all intents and purposes, it was clinched yesterday.

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A win was more than just a normal victory, this title more than the average championship. Not for the first time, United are in record-breaking territory. Chelsea were beaten over 90 minutes, Liverpool will be over the course of 19 title-winning campaigns.

“Fifteen or 20 years ago, you would never have thought it,” Ryan Giggs said. “It’s a great achievement by the manager and the players to haul back our greatest rivals.”

That is an enmity that transcends generations. Chelsea are comparatively new-found foes, but the arriviste challengers were dispatched by the old order. Carlo Ancelotti’s men effectively won last season’s title at Old Trafford, but there was no damaging dose of deja vu. The echoes of the past are supplied by the memories of Giggs and Sir Alex Ferguson celebrating past successes.

Theirs is a team that has been damned by comparison this season, a side who seemed pale imitators of previous champions. Not yesterday.

This was the defining statement of their season, the performance to proclaim them worthy winners. This was a more emphatic dismissal of their closest challengers than the eventual scoreline suggested.

This was the culmination of two decades of domestic dominance, a United team bursting with brio, packed with pace, allying adventure with defensive dependability. It was an all-encompassing display with an extraordinary start.

Seconds before kick off, Javier Hernandez knelt in the centre circle, as though looking to the skies and asking for deliverance. It arrived barely a minute later.

A man who has wasted little time making an impact at Old Trafford was quick to make his mark, even by his standards. His 37-second goal, his 20th of the season in all competitions, was a shock to Chelsea’s system, the Mexican darting on to Park

Ji-sung’s through pass while David Luiz slipped and dinked his shot past Petr Cech. “He has beaten all challenges,” Ferguson said. Most goalkeepers have been defeated, too.

It set the scene for a thrilling first half, one where United surged and Chelsea stumbled. Nemanja Vidic ghosted in from behind Branislav Ivanovic to head in a Giggs cross to double the lead. It could have been greater: Ferguson has found his formula against Chelsea with Hernandez dragging defenders deep to open up space for a rejuvenated Wayne Rooney – “he could have scored six today,” said his manager – and though a one man quest for a third goal failed, the striker has recaptured his mojo.

They were flanked by the twin workaholics, Antonio Valencia and Park, and supplied by Giggs.

While Frank Lampard deftly extended a leg to volley in Ivanovic’s header, the other part of United’s ancien regime, Edwin van der Sar, was otherwise unbeatable. They have mastered blending old and new. Chelsea find it problematic.

Nine remnants of Jose Mourinho’s reign started the game, while none of this season’s three major recruits played the 90 minutes. Seamless transition is hard to execute, but Ferguson is skilled in the subject.

While United inherit Chelsea’s crown, the examination on their seasons will contain a shared subject: striking signings. For £6 million (Dh36.6m), Hernandez has been a remarkable recruit, a man whose scorched-earth policy renders him the scourge of slowing defenders and whose habit of scoring telling goals had turned him into Chelsea’s nemesis.

Their £50m man, meanwhile, was confined to a half-hour cameo, taking his total for the club to 830 minutes and a solitary goal.

Bought to bring the Champions League or the Premier League trophy to Stamford Bridge, the brutal truth is that Fernando Torres has been both an expensive embarrassment and ineffective irrelevance.

Chelsea have long believed in the power of the chequebook, but it takes more than money to halt Manchester United. Especially when history beckons.

sports@thenational.ae