Maybe Howard Webb has finally ended all the rumors about him and Manchester United, by giving a red card to Rafael in the closing minutes of the match between Manchester United, who weren’t really looking (or needed to) to win, and Chelsea, in a must-win mode, getting the three points they were looking for through a winning goal from Juan Mata.
David Luiz began all the ruckus that led to Rafael getting sent off, but the Brazilian right back, not for the first time, couldn’t keep his cool when he was asked of it. Luis, the much bigger man, shouldered him once or twice, which caused Rafael to try and punch Luiz and then kick him to the ground. Luiz went down before Rafael even touched him, leading Webb to belive a great offense was made. Ryan Giggs made a huge mistake by running up to Luiz and breathing more fuel into the flames, resulting in the sending off.
Manchester United can’t complete sweeps against Chelsea, and if it wasn’t for Mark Clattenburg, they wouldn’t have won their first match against them this season, and who knows how the season would have turned out. But things have changed since that day. United are the champions, Chelsea chasing a Champions League ticket.
Even without Eden Hazard, Chelsea were the much more dangerous team through most of the match, as United didn’t have anything but a misfiring Robin van Persie and a depressed Wayne Rooney (coming on off the bench) to bring to the game. Juan Mata had another fine performance next to Oscar, missing too many times before Ramires took the ball from Wayne Rooney in the middle of the pitch (and like all Ferguson pupils cried for a foul), found Oscar with a clever heel before giving the ball to Mata in the box, who was helped by a small deflection to beat Anders Lindegaard.
United lose for the third time at home this season, which means absolutely nothing. Chelsea take control of the UCL tickets race, climbing to third with 68 points – 3 more than Tottenham (same amount of matches, 35), and one over Arsenal, who have player one match more.
