A hat-trick by Samuel Eto’o ensured Chelsea maintained the pressure on the Premier League pacesetters and surely ended Manchester United’s chances of retaining their title.
The veteran striker scored twice in the first half and completed his treble just after the interval to leave Chelsea only two points behind leaders Arsenal and one adrift of Manchester City.
United manager David Moyes cut a dejected figure at the final whistle as he surveyed a 14-point gap to Arsenal at the top of the table, with matters made worse by the late red card for Nemanja Vidic following his needless lunge at Eden Hazard.
Javier Hernandez’s goal hardly qualified as consolation and United must now try to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Sunderland in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at Old Trafford on Wednesday without their suspended captain, who starts a three-match ban.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has played down his side’s title credentials but there is a real sense of momentum building around Stamford Bridge that will have only increased with this victory, the Portuguese’s 100th in the Premier League. His first also came against United, back in 2004.
In Moyes’s defence, he was without his injured world-class strike pair of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, but even those mitigating circumstances cannot disguise the brutal truth that United’s current squad is simply not in shape to mount a title challenge and is inferior to that at Arsenal, let alone Chelsea and Manchester City.
-Source: bbc.