Manchester United eased to a well-deserved victory over Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday to ensure their title chances. Nemanja Vidic opened the scoring minutes from the interval, Wayne Rooney doubled the lead on 63 minutes and Dimitar Berbatov put the icing on the cake three minutes from time. The Red Devils advanced to third place with 41 points upon snatching the precious victory, while the Blues still lie second with one point ahead. Alex Ferguson opted to field Ryan Giggs alongside Darren Fletcher in midfield. Rio Ferdinand failed to recover from a back injury and Johnny Evans took his place alongside Vidic. Despite looking more threatening through the first half an hour, Chelsea couldn't transform their superiority into any real chances. United's Portuguese ace Cristiano Ronaldo put on his finest displays in the game, and posed a great deal of threat on Chelsea. In the last 15 minutes of the first half, United started controlling much of the possession. Berbatov did well to control Rooney's back heel with a lovely dummy, but the Bulgarian's weak shot was easily parried by Petr Cech. Serbian defender Vidic scored United's opener on 45 minutes when he nodded Ryan Giggs' corner-kick, seconds after Alex Ferguson's men had a goal disallowed. In the early minutes of the second period, the visitors were seeking an equalizer by waging more attacks. Didier Drogba could have netted a leveller on 48 minutes, but failed to control the ball before releasing a shot. The away side mostly depended on long-range efforts rather than confronting United's backline in the middle. Rooney added the second on 63 minutes with a tame volley from point-blank range, connecting with Patrice Evra's inch-perfect left-flank cross. Later on, the hosts took a stranglehold on the game, and Chelsea seemed to be down-and-out. The defending champions maintained ball position superiority and kept on looking for another strike. Eventually, Berbatov killed off the game with a beautiful goal, thanks to the in-form Ronaldo, who whipped in a pinpoint cross. Cech could have conceded more goals in the dying minutes as the home side kept their fighting spirit up, but United didn't notch more goals till the final whistle was blown.
