Terry goal leads Chelsea to victory over Man Utd

Chelsea 1 Manchester United 0. Sunday morning's newspaper headlines may have made for uncomfortable reading for John Terry, as his father was revealed as a drugs fixer, but this morning's will provide the scorer of the only goal in yesterday's Premier League clash with a lot more joy. The result sees the Londoners go five points clear at the top of the table and confirms a growing belief that under Carlo Ancelotti they will dominate the league this season.

The pain for Manchester United could be worse too. Not only have they been pushed into third place by Arsenal, but manager Sir Alex Ferguson and some of his players could face sanctions from the FA for their reaction to Martin Atkinson's decision to give the free kick from which the Chelsea captain flicked on the ball for his first goal of the season.

"Absolutely ridiculous," the Scotsman spluttered after the game, which was a rather dour and defensive affair which the Champions will be right to feel aggrieved that they took nothing from. "Clearly Darren Fletcher has won the ball. He's never touched Ashley Cole who just jumped up in the air, and then Drogba has pulled Brown to the ground at the goal. But what can you do? You lose faith in the refereeing sometimes. That's the way the players are talking in there. It was a bad one."

Before the game United fans had been fearful that the club's patchwork defence, which had leaked three goals at home in the Champions League on Wednesday night, would be exposed by the rampant Didier Drogba and the resurgent Joe Cole and Frank Lampard. As it was, Wes Brown and Jonny Evans stood firm for much of the game, and the Ivory Coast international's threat was largely nullified.

A growing concern at Old Trafford will be the lack of penetration up front, where Cristiano Ronaldo's absence is becoming more glaring by the game. Although the visitors had the best of the first half, there was little to get the pulse racing save for a claimed penalty for Man Utd when Antonio Valencia went to ground under a Terry challenge on the quarter-hour mark. The returning Darren Fletcher had an excellent game, harrying the Chelsea midfield diamond and giving them little time on the ball.

But one thing above all that Carlo Ancelotti has brought with him from Italian football is a game plan, and the hosts rarely looked as if they would concede a goal (which they haven't done at home since the first day of the season) or break their ten-match winning streak at the Bridge. Anelka forced a sharp save from Edwin van der Sar after 30 minutes, but the Blues were happy to defend in numbers and break when they could.

The second half saw renewed vigour from Manchester United, but with just Wayne Rooney playing up front - Dimitar Berbatov was out injured and Michael Owen was seemingly untrusted in such a high-stakes game despite his midweek goal - the chances of breaking through seemed low. And so it was that with just fourteen minutes to go Chelsea took the lead. Ashley Cole won a free kick after being dispossessed - fairly, to most observers - and as the ball floated over Drogba impeded Brown, allowing Anelka and Terry to both rise for the ball and the England man to claim the goal.

Manchester United attacked with passion after the goal but to no avail, and the emotion threatened to spill over. At the end Rooney left the pitch visibly mouthing "Twelve men", a suggestion about the referee's allegiances that he could yet be punished for. Losing their most incisive player would be a further setback that United could ill afford. ·