PICTURES

WEBMASTER'S COMMENT

"Utd were only 7 minutes away from victory against Chelsea in this match but Zola's goal deserved his name on the score sheet."

MATCH REPORT

By Mark Bradley, PA Sport

There were almost more bookings than chances, but a late flash of inspiration from Gianfranco Zola finally sparked Chelsea into life to strengthen their title ambitions. For the opening 80 minutes, the team sent out by Gianluca Vialli seemed to be poor imposters for the team which has produced some sparkling football so far this season.

United were little better, though, and the match was largely a poor advert for a supposedly resurgent Premiership as the two teams tipped as the most-likely title contenders met head on. Seven players were shown the yellow card, tackles flew in from all angles, and the game was crying out for width and inspiration until the late flurry from the visitors, inspired by substitute Gustavo Poyet.

But after Zola had struck seven minutes from time to equalise Andy Cole's 45th-minute effort, the Blues had chances to win the game and strengthen a record which has seen them lose just twice at Old Trafford in their past 23 League games there. Before kick-off, Old Trafford was feverish with excitement at the prospect of a Champions' Cup quarter-final against Inter Milan, with Ronaldo and Diego Simeone, the Argentinian who must still haunt David Beckham's worst nightmares, awaiting. But Europe must be put on hold for both sides until March as domestic concerns take centre stage.

The absence of their defensive foundation stones, Marcel Desailly and Frank Leboeuf, was a massive blow for Chelsea, plunging Michael Duberry and Bernard Lambourde into action against Cole and Dwight Yorke. But what the first-half really missed amid all the wasted passes and lack of inspiration as two cautious line-ups cancelled each other out was a winger, someone to take on an opponent and produce a dangerous cross from the by-line.

It was little surprise that only Jesper Blomqvist provided any real menace down the flanks, given that Nicky Butt, Dan Petrescu and Celestine Babayaro are hardly in the class of Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, both rested until the second half. Apart from Cole's goal, the rest of the opening 45 minutes was largely dismal, enlivened only by the constant whistling of referee Graham Barber.

The first real save came a full 38 minutes into the game, when Peter Schmeichel parried an effort from the effervescent Gianfranco Zola. Shortly afterwards, Graeme Le Saux, who had been at the centre of most of the controversy, feigning injury at least once and being tackled into the advertising hoardings in revenge, limped off to be replaced by Poyet.

But finally, the painful deadlock was broken just seconds before the interval. Blomqvist teased the Chelsea defence down the right and sent in a weak cross which was cleared as far as Butt.

His shot was blocked, but Cole immediately pounced on the loose ball to fire a shot in off the left-hand upright. Cole was straight back into the thick of the action after the break, setting up Yorke after a thoughtful through-ball from Paul Scholes, but the striker's weak shot was easily gathered by De Goey.

The shuddering challenges continued to fly in, and Lambourde was extremely fortunate to escape his second yellow card of the game for what seemed a last-ditch foul on Yorke as the former Villa striker threatened to break free. Yorke was promptly replaced by Beckham with 29 minutes left, and he produced the best cross of the game within two minutes only to see Scholes head it straight into the ground and up again into De Goey's hands.

Chelsea had their fair share of possession but were too often guilty of trying to break down United straight through the middle, when it has been in the air that the Reds have largely seemed vulnerable this season. When Poyet did manage to pick out Roberto Di Matteo in an inch of space in the penalty area, the Italian simply fell over his own feet as Schmeichel plucked the ball from beneath him.

Chelsea were almost made to pay when Ferrer conceded possession to Cole, and the striker fed Blomqvist advancing into the area, but his shot went woefully wide, and he was immediately replaced by Giggs. Di Matteo did have another chance to secure a point, rounding Schmeichel to reach the by-line after Poyet had bulldozed his way through, but Brown was there to hack clear his pull-back.

The young defender was unable to stop Zola two minutes later, however, as the Italian turned sharply onto Poyet's flick and held off Brown's challenge before flicking the ball nonchalantly over the advancing Schmeichel. In a thrilling final few minutes, Chelsea finished the stronger, with Petrescu wasting one chance after Tor Andre Flo caused more chaos in the United area, and Babayaro clipping the post with a 20-yard effort.

There was still time for Brown to flick a header narrowly wide but with honours even, the focus now turns to the rematch in just two weeks at Stamford Bridge. Both sides will not find it hard to improve but after fighting back to snatch a deserved draw, the Chelsea fans will not be worrying about that on the way back to London.

POST MATCH REACTIONS

Referee Graham Barber has fallen foul of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson for the second time this season. Ferguson was furious with Barber for not sending off Chelsea defender Bernard Lambourde after he appeared to pull down Dwight Yorke as the United striker raced through on goal.

Lambourde was already on a yellow card, but he escaped unpunished for the challenge in the second half. Ferguson was so incensed by the tackle that he came down to the touchline to let Barber know exactly what he thought of his decision.

He was particularly annoyed because this was the same official who had harshly dismissed Nicky Butt for a similar offence during United's 3-0 defeat at Arsenal in September.

"I think it was a sending-off," said Ferguson. "It was a poor decision and nobody could argue with that. It's the same referee who sent Nicky Butt off at Highbury even when he wasn't the last man, but he didn't send this player off.

"If the referees were consistent from game to game, you could understand why they did certain things as they maybe had an edict from their bosses. But when they change from game to game, that's the frustrating thing for managers."

Chelsea were also unhappy with Barber after he booked five of their players in the first half. He also took the names of two United players in the second half to take his tally of yellow cards to seven.

Chelsea skipper Dennis Wise claimed the tussle between the two title rivals was not as ill-disciplined as the number of bookings suggested. Wise, who was one of the five Chelsea players cautioned, said: "I think refs are under a lot of pressure and I think he felt he had to book players.

"We ended up with five bookings and they ended up with two, but it was not a dirty game and there was not one bad challenge."

Andy Cole's 10th goal of the season two minutes into stoppage time at the end of the first half looked like being enough to settle the contest and take United top of the Premiership. But with seven minutes to go Gianfranco received Gustavo Poyet's flick and held off Wes Brown to score past Peter Schmeichel for the equaliser.

The Blues were well worth their point after a stirring second-half display and they have extended their run at Old Trafford to just two defeats in the last 24 league games.

They have climbed up one place to third following the draw and manager Gianluca Vialli said: "We played really well and I felt we could have scored more than one goal."

Ferguson took heart from the fact his side took a point without playing anywhere near their full potential. He is confident United will hit top form now their punishing schedule of two matches a week is easing up.

"It was disappointing, but when you have a bad game and still get a result you know you are a championship contender," he said. "We've had an immense problem over the last three weeks with two matches each week. We're glad to come through that spell and still be in a position where we are challenging in the league and have a quarter-final in the European Cup to look forward to."

TEAMS

Manchester United: Schmeichel, G Neville, Brown, Irwin, Stam, Keane, Butt, Scholes, Blomqvist, Cole, Yorke.
Subs: Beckham for Yorke, Giggs for Blomqvist.
Scorers: Cole (45)

Chelsea: De Goey, Lambourde, Duberry, Le Saux, Petrescu, Ferrer Wise, Di Matteo, Babayaro, Zola, Flo.
Subs: Poyet for Le Saux
Scorers: Zola (83)

Referee: G Barber