BY Mark Bradley ( The Times )

ALEX FERGUSON said recently that it would take a miracle for any team to achieve the treble of European Cup, FA Carling Premiership and FA Cup. Last night, after his Manchester United side had brushed Chelsea aside at Stamford Bridge to move within a step of Wembley, he began to waver.

United, who lead the Premiership by four points and are on the brink of qualifying for the semi-finals of the European Cup, will now meet Arsenal at Villa Park on April 11 for a place in the FA Cup Final. That will be a clash of the Titans, but United will start as favourites.

"We have got a chance of winning all three now," Ferguson said. It helps that he has unearthed a striker who seems to find even the impossible things in football a breeze.

Dwight Yorke's feats this season have mocked the pressure that was supposed to come with his £12.6 million price tag and the profile of his position and last night it was his sweetly taken goals that settled this quarter-final replay.

Yorke has scored 26 goals this season now. Every defence in every competition has been turned into his personal plaything. He does not make distinctions or save his goals up. He scored in United's last league game, against Southampton, he scored both the goals in their European Cup quarter-final first leg against Internazionale last week and last night it was his brace that gave United their most significant domestic victory of the season so far, a victory that may indeed have freed Chelsea to concentrate on the league, but which will have told United that they have the ability to resist any challenge they may mount. Even more important, the clinical way in which Yorke took his chances gave credence to Ferguson's fond belief that United will score in the San Siro next Wednesday, something that will almost certainly be enough to take them past Inter and into the European Cup semi-finals as well.

"Yorke is answering every question you can put to a footballer," Ferguson said. "He is doing it every week and he is doing it with a smile on his face. You just cannot ignore that kind of football. We are delighted with him.

"We are very, very pleased. I wanted to sign him two years ago. He is Manchester United's type of player. He has got the temperament and the character to play. You never know whether someone will be able to settle, but he has blossomed. It was the right challenge at the right time for him coming to Old Trafford and he has accepted it without any fuss."

Yorke's second goal, the most delicate of lobs over a stranded Ed de Goey early in the second half, was also United's hundredth of the season, the first time the landmark has been reached in Ferguson's 13 years in charge and a measure of the unrivalled attacking potency that he has created in this campaign. Chelsea never matched them in that department.

Marcel Desailly was outstanding at the heart of their defence and Jody Morris worked tirelessly in midfield, but although Chelsea threatened an equaliser from time to time, their forwards never quite had the same conviction or carried the same menace as their opponents. With Pierluigi Casiraghi out until next year and Gustavo Poyet still limping back from injury, it is that deficiency that is likely to cost them the title when United and Arsenal step up the pace at the season's denouement.

Still, the defeat was not as devastating for Chelsea as United's 5-3 victory at Stamford Bridge in the third round last season. "We have to look on the bright side," Gianluca Vialli, the Chelsea player-manager, said. "Arsenal and United will get tired when they play each other and we will rest."

Yorke had delighted some of the younger Chelsea supporters before the game by stopping to sign their programmes and autograph books as he left the pitch after the warm-up. Within four minutes of the start, though, he had turned their smiles into frowns.

There seemed to be little danger when Beckham curled an innocuous free kick towards the Chelsea box from the halfway line. Leboeuf rose to clear it, but he managed only to head the ball straight up in the air. Cole was the first to it as it dropped and his flick found Yorke, who swivelled and shot across De Goey into the corner.

Chelsea, inspired by Desailly, did not fold and could have equalised on several occasions. Schmeichel beat out a fierce rising drive from Morris in the tenth minute and blocked a shot from Zola with his right leg when the Italian was clean through. Most cruelly, ten minutes after half-time, Chelsea were denied by one of their own. Babayaro swung a deep cross over from the left that eluded Schmeichel and was met by Wise at the back post. His prodded volley appeared to be rolling over the line until it was inadvertently deflected wide by Flo, who was lying in its path.

Then, a minute before the hour, Yorke hit Chelsea with a sucker punch. Cole was the provider once more, his tackle on Desailly sliding the ball into Yorke's path. He ran on to it and chipped it delicately over De Goey with the outside of his right foot.

Chelsea spurned more chances to force their way back into the game, Morris shooting wide after his first touch let him down. It was the story of their night, the night when Dwight Yorke began to make Alex Ferguson believe in miracles

Chelsea (4-4-2): E de Goey - B Lambourde, M Desailly, F Leboeuf (sub: A Myers, 46min), G Le Saux - D Wise, R Di Matteo, J Morris (sub: B Goldbaek, 71) , C Babayaro - G Zola, T A Flo (sub: M Forssell, 71).

Manchester United (4-4-2): P Schmeichel - G Neville, H Berg, J Stam, D Irwin - D Beckham, R Keane, P Scholes, R Giggs (sub: J Blomqvist, 76) - A Cole (sub: P Neville, 72), D Yorke (sub: O G Solskjaer, 84).

Referee: P Durkin.