Chelsea rewrote the Premiership record books with a 3-1 win away to Manchester United as goals from Tiago, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Joe Cole cancelled out Ruud van Nistelrooy’s opener at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Chelsea, who secured their first title in 50 years at Bolton last week, secured a record 29th league win in a season and broke United’s record of 92 points in a season by becoming the first visitors to win at Old Trafford in the league this term.
The result, which saw Chelsea boost their tally to 94 points ahead of Sunday’s final game away to Newcastle, confirmed Arsenal as runners-up and direct entrants into next season’s Champions League proper.
Third-placed United were left six points behind Arsenal, with only three on offer if they beat Southampton in their final game of the season on Sunday.
United, now 20 points behind Chelsea, will have to win a qualifying tie to gain entry into the main Champions League draw.
Despite affording the Londoners the honour of applauding their title-winning players on to the pitch, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team were clearly in no mood to allow their generosity to extend to the game itself.
This game offered United the perfect opportunity to strike a psychological blow and hammer home their intentions for next season, and it was no surprise that the home team made a ferocious start, with Cristiano Ronaldo twice testing Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini inside the opening seven minutes.
Chelsea, without injured captain John Terry and commanding goalkeeper Petr Cech, looked shaky at the back as United pressed forward, and Ferguson’s men deservedly took the lead in the seventh minute when Van Nistelrooy scored from close range.
Wayne Rooney’s cross found the Dutchman just inside the six-yard box and Van Nistelrooy flicked the ball past Cudicini.
Chelsea appealed for offside, with Ronaldo clearly in an offside position at the far post, but referee Graham Poll awarded the goal after consulting his linesman.
Chelsea’s solitary Premiership defeat prior to this game had come across Manchester at Manchester City in October.
But United’s hopes of inflicting another Mancunian defeat on Jose Mourinho’s team were dampened when the visitors equalised with a stunning goal from Tiago in the 17th minute.
The champions hadn’t threatened the United goal prior to the Portuguese midfielder’s 30-yard strike, but Tiago left goalkeeper Roy Carroll completely helpless as his right-foot shot arrowed into the top corner. The goal lifted Chelsea and they were much the better team in the second half.
Fullback Glen Johnson should have put Chelsea ahead when he sprung the offside trap to latch on to Cole’s pass in the 49th minute, but the England defender took too long to unleash a strike on goal, allowing United to clear. Moments later, though, Cole forced Carroll into a fine save with a low strike from 18 yards.
United offered little in return, despite their £49-million strike pairing of Van Nistelrooy and Rooney, and it required Darren Fletcher’s 20-yard strike that crashed against the crossbar to worry the Chelsea rearguard.
The home side had plenty of possession, but they just did not use it well enough.
And their failure to create more chances and break down the Chelsea defence was punished when Gudjohnsen raced clear to make it 2-1 on 61 minutes.
The Iceland international, who scored the winner against United at Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the season, again sprung United’s offside trap to run on to Tiago’s pass.
With only Carroll to beat, the former Bolton forward coolly slotted into the net from 12 yards.
And Chelsea completed their win when Cole converted Frank Lampard’s cross to make it 3-1 eight minutes from time. — Sapa-AFP