Sir Alex Ferguson tasted victory, while Chelsea were left to sup bitter Mourinho-less defeat as Manchester United secured a 2-0 victory over their title rivals at Old Trafford.
The referee Mike Dean was at the centre of attention, rewarding Louis Saha's dubious 89th-minute tumble with a penalty, having already sent Jon Obi Mikel from the field on the half-hour mark. Mikel had clumsily challenged Patrice Evra after losing control of the ball, although replays suggested that what had looked a harsh decision was possibly also an incorrect one.
To rub salt into Chelsea wounds, in time added on by Dean at the end of the first half, United made the decisive breakthrough. Carlos Tevez scored his first goal for the Reds, glancing in a near-post header from a sublime cross from the outside of Ryan Giggs's right boot.
Mikel's sending off had completely changed the course of the game. For the first half-hour Chelsea were comfortable, if unthreatening. In the second half Manchester United were comfortable, though aside from a wild Ryan Giggs volley they rarely looked capable of extending their lead.
The match became increasingly bad tempered as Chelsea ran out of steam. Wayne Rooney was lucky to stay out of the book for pushing over Ashley Cole, while Joe Cole was wisely substituted immediately after scything down Ronaldo. Wes Brown and John Terry both hacked their way to bookings as the game drifted to its rain-sodden conclusion.
The game had opened brightly - a curling Rooney effort drew a top save from Cech in the second minute - but once United's initial burst of energy had faded, the game fell into a pattern. With Joe Cole and Mikel prominent, Chelsea retained the majority of the ball, while United attacked in dramatic thrusts. Giggs, Tevez, Ronaldo and Rooney seemingly took it in turns to run at the Chelsea defence.
United were also guilty of playing as individuals, while without the attacking runs of the injured Frank Lampard, Andriy Shevchenko was isolated and ineffective. As the first half developed, Nemanja Vidic thumped a free-kick straight at Cech, Giggs and Rooney both dragged efforts wide, while Evra and Giggs both went down softly in the area as it grew apparent that any penalty or refereeing error would be decisive. So it proved.
