Chelsea steal a march on rivals

Manchester United triumphed 2-0, but the results since have shown that Chelsea were the real winners of last month's Old Trafford showdown between Alex Ferguson's team and champions Arsenal.

Two weeks later, Jose Mourinho's team stand two points clear at the top of the English Premier League after Saturday's 1-0 win over Everton, the first time since January that Arsenal have not occupied top spot.

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Last season Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said the Old Trafford meeting of England's two most successful sides was the turning point in the title race.

Arsenal drew that match 0-0 amid ugly scenes after Ruud van Nistelrooy's late missed penalty for United and the psychological boost propelled Wenger's team to an emphatic title success.

This time round, neither team seems to have benefited.

United followed up their morale-boosting win by losing 2-0 at Portsmouth and drawing 0-0 at home with local rivals Manchester City on Sunday.

It left United 11 points behind Chelsea and Ferguson is already making excuses. After the City draw he claimed his team were "being penalised for getting the penalty against Arsenal" and were not now being awarded spotkicks.

PRAGMATIC MOURINHO

That was a reference to the dubious penalty won by United striker Wayne Rooney in the 2-0 win over Arsenal.

True or not, Ferguson also accepts his team are not playing well enough to win the title and at the moment they are not even contesting it.

Arsenal's response to the sudden evaporation of their invincible air has been a bout of under-par displays that have resulted in consecutive draws against Southampton and Crystal Palace, two teams they would expect to beat comfortably.

Buoyant Chelsea, meanwhile, are displaying the kind of consistency that is as much a hallmark of their pragmatic Portuguese manager as it is untypical of the west London side historically.

Saturday's win over third-placed Everton at Stamford Bridge means they have conceded three goals in 12 league games.

"At the end of the game, when I arrived into the dressing room, it was like a dressing room after a final, not after just getting three points," Mourinho said.

His biggest achievement, though, has been the way the Chelsea team have refused to be distracted by the sacking of their Romanian striker Adrian Mutu for drug use.

If they keep up their outstanding defensive record Mourinho's team will finish the season having conceded barely 10 goals. That will almost certainly be enough to clinch their first league title in 50 years, whatever Arsenal and United do.