United 3 Chelsea 0

It has certainly been one of those crazy weeks at United that crop up so often. Kicked off by the roller coaster Carlos Tevez contract saga row, the Reds abject display at Derby that cost them a Carling Cup semi final first leg advantage, Ronaldo's miraculous car crash escape and then the left field arrival of Rafa Benitez's spiky tirade at Sir Alex Ferguson. All that had had little to do with this showdown.

Fergie and Scolari hadn't seriously been able to drum up anymore drama in their press conferences but after what had gone on surrounding the Reds this week it would have been overload had they joined in and pumped up the build-up even more. But after that kind of relentless back-page and front page hogging events to this first tumultuous set-to of 2009 could the fare match the headline-hitting lead up events? Would it be Wembley `07 or Luzhniki Stadium `08. It fell between the two stools really. The classic immovable object being United's Old Trafford fortress and the irresistible force being Chelsea's outstanding away form this was always going to be tough to catalogue among the truly memorable encounters.

It was all too bitty, niggly and devoid of edge of your seat penalty box action to gatecrash the file of unforgettable matches. Inevitably there is always controversy attached to all these box office match ups. Fortunately, the linesman's first half injury time cock up didn't grab the headlines. Referee Howard Webb's assistant failed to see or acknowledge that Wayne Rooney had tapped a corner kick into play. Ryan Giggs ran over to the rolling ball, appeared to ask his colleague along the way if he'd played it, and then crossed the ball for Ronaldo to head home. Rooney was furious that his piece of ingenuity to catch Chelsea on the hop was missed by the officials and the goal was wiped out.

A Giggs corner seconds later converted by Nemanja Vidic via a Berbatov headed flick meant the ruled out goal was effectively demoted as a match highlight topic. Considering these two are Fergie's predicted pairing to ultimately be contesting the title in spring neither has actually proved their top match pedigree against other members of the Big Four this campaign. However, once United had got their nose in front there was only ever going to be one side who would register their first win in such battles. The Reds were rampant once they had chiseled out the Vidic advantage and a move worthy of the occasion in the 63rd minute cemented their supremacy. Ronaldo's back heel was swept across by Patrice Evra and Rooney stole in ahead of Ashley Cole to strike home.

United were so far ahead of their rivals that a 2-0 scoreline wouldn't have recorded their grip on this game but when Dimitar Berbatov snapped out of his slumber in the 87th minute to convert Ronaldo's free kick with a superb sidefoot volley it became a true reflection on a United display.