Late Penalty Sees Chelsea To 2-1 Win Over Manchester United

David Luiz is a central defender in name and deployment, but his skills are certainly not limited to those normally possessed by men who play that position. He’s scored Chelsea’s equalizer against Manchester United following a set piece, but not directly from a set piece and not with his head. It was certainly far from the kind of goal typically scored by central defenders, but then again, David Luiz is far from a typical central defender. He’s shown off his technical prowess by dribbling forward on a number of occasions, and he’s started to pay back his hefty transfer fee with a great goal.

Following a set piece opportunity, but not so far afterwards that defenders had retreated to their normal positions, Michael Essien sent a cross into the box from a deep position, on the right flank. His ball went right to the penalty spot, where Branislav Ivanovic was standing. He headed the ball towards the back post, where Luiz was standing. The Brazilian defender hit a fantastic half volley into the back of the net, and Chelsea are now level at 1-1. They’ve been the much more ambitious of the two sides early in the second half, so one might say that their equalizer was deserved.

Chelsea FC came forward with more purpose since going behind to Wayne Rooney’s stunning opener but did not find a way to put the ball in the back of the net before halftime. Manchester United were slightly fortunate to avoid conceding during the 40th minute goal-line scramble, and on first glance it looked like Chelsea may have even had a shout for handball on Nemanja Vidic during those frantic moments, but replays showed that the ball probably came off of the United captain’s chest.

The hosts have been fairly direct throughout, and that continued in the closing minutes of the first half. However, a lack of precision in their longer passes and crosses has resulted in frustration for the Blues’ fans, and Ashley Cole spurned a chance to cause United trouble from a free-kick just before the interval. Vidic had hacked Michael Essien down, receiving a booking for his troubles, just outside the penalty area, but the Chelsea left-back blazed his effort well over the bar (insert your shooting jokes here).

By the middle of the period, United seemed to have gotten the tempo under more control. Just before the 20-minute mark, the visitors enjoyed their first real run of possession, continuing to favor Nani’s flank. With Michael Essien drifting over to support from midfield and United evening numbers with either Javier Hernández or Wayne Rooney, United’s build-up met congestion at the edge of the final third.

In the 21st minute, United was able to break through that side to generate their first good chance. Nani beat his man to generate a cross 18 yards from touch, a ball that met an unmarked Rooney at the near post. The United striker elevated well but a little under the ball. His attempt to turn the ball on goal ended with him shank-ing his shot over the bar.

Chelsea FC looked sure to have their equalizer in the 40th minute of their game against Manchester United, but despite a couple of great chances in a matter of seconds, they have been denied. Edwin van der Sar produced a couple of great saves in that same matter of seconds, but if we’re being honest, Chelsea should be level.

Frank Lampard created the opportunity with a terrific drive of a free kick from almost 30 yards out, forcing van der Sar into a sprawling save. Unfortunately for him, the ball fell to the feet of Branislav Ivanovic immediately after that save. It appeared that Ivanovic had a wide open goal to work with, but he somehow failed to put the ball into the back of the net. Maybe he thought it was too easy and hit the ball too casually, but in any event, van der Sar reached up and clawed the ball away while on his back, somehow denying Ivanovic the equalizer. The ball then bounced off a United defender before it was finally secured by van der Sar, completing his improbable triple save.

Chelsea may be set to use the same 4-4-2 that got them a 2-0 win last week in Copenhagen. That means Didier Drogba will again be on the bench, as will Mikel John Obi. Fernando Torres and Nicolas Anelka look set to start up top. Frank Lampard and Michael Essien will have to hold down central midfield.

At the back, there is one change. David Luiz, cup-tied in Champions League, is back in the team, set to start to the right of John Terry in central defense. That pushes Branislav Ivanovic to right back, with Ashley Cole completing the line in front of Petr Cech.

Earlier today, Kevin McCauley walked us through Chelsea’s possible formations for today’s match with Manchester United. As we noted last night, part of the difficulty of previewing today’s match is having little idea how the Blues and United will set-up. While Chelsea has used three different formations over the last month, Alex Ferguson is constantly changing his approach, tailoring his set-up for each match. Predicting what he’ll do today mean jumping into his head and translating his thoughts out of that rough Scottish. I don’t have that tool in my arsenal.

So instead of trying to predict where Ferguson will go, let’s just lay-out the options. Let’s start our survey by looking back to last season, considering it Ferguson’s default disposition.

Despite Smalling’s impressive performances, no Red Devils supporters will be happy to see a squad without Ferdinand, a trepidation bore out by the numbers.

In matches in which Ferdinand has appeared this season, United is allowed 59 percent fewer goals, seeing their average conceded fall from 1.10 goals per match to 0.65. That total’s generally be accumulated against superior competition, as even when he’s healthy, Ferdinand is sometimes rested against particularly weak opponents. For example, Ferdinand played in only one of United’s three Carling Cup matches, starting against Scunthorpe United as part of his recuperation from this summer’s knee injury.

United fans are confident that whether Chelsea choose to lineup in a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2, the visitors will see a solid win. The Red Devils are fresh off a 4-0 win against Wigan and have a solid four-point lead at the top of the table. No wonder they’ve got a bit of a swagger in their step.

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Three-and-a-half months later, it’s unclear whether that’s come to pass. Chelsea won in Copenhagen last week, their first victory since their a January spending spree, but in the three preceding matches they’d lost at home, were drawn at Craven Cottage, and lost on penalty kicks to Everton. It’s difficult to tell if that’s an improvement on their November-December form since a Danish side coming off a three month break wasn’t on their late fall fixture list. While it seems Chelsea has overcome the midfield problems that plagued them at the end of 2010, it’s unclear they’re producing better results.

Doing their part to make this match competitive, Manchester United seems to have descended to the Blues’ level, even if their results don’t necessarily reflect their struggles. United had lost only once going into the original match date, and they’ve only lost once since, giving them as many losses on the season as Chelsea accrued last month. A February 5 loss at Wolverhampton was United’s first Premier League defeat of the season, a result that came amidst unconvincing (if successful) performances against Blackpool, Southampton, Crawley Town and Olympique de Marseille. At least when Chelsea appears unimpressive, they’re always doing so against top-flight competition.