Two howlers from Chelsea players allowed Manchester United to go in to the locker room at halftime with a 2-1 lead.
Chelsea vs. Manchester United: Halftime score 1-2, Chelsea haunted by mistakes
Chelsea were the aggressor for most of the first half but looked lost in the final third. Victor Moses gifted Daniel Sturridge with a sublime cross from the left wing that found Sturridge all alone against Anders Lindegaard. Sturridge promptly tripped over his own feet and lost possession of the ball, wasting a brilliant early chance.
United didn’t look particularly dangerous at any point but they did have two dangerous free kick opportunities just outside the Cheslea box, both of which they wasted. So of course, United scored first.
In the 22nd minute, Petr Cech restarted play, sending the ball out to Oriol Romeu who promptly, and inexplicably, was disposed by Ryan Giggs who calmly hit the ball past Cech with a shot off the side of his foot. If it's not the easiest goal Giggs has ever scored, it certainly has to be up there.
Chelsea answered back in the 30th minute after Alexander Büttner tried to tap the ball away from Victor Moses just inside the box, but instead took out his feet. Lee Mason wasted no time in awarding the penalty. David Luiz took a run up that started somewhere around Watford or Croydon (apologies, my navigation isn't so good) and scored, blasting his shot in to the lower left corner of the goal. Lindegaard got his fingers on the ball but there was too much momentum on it for him to stop.
United took the lead back right before the halftime break thanks to another Chelsea mistake. David Luiz lost the ball to Anderson in the midfield as he attempted to make a run forward, Anderson wasted no time, hitting Chicharito in stride as raced between two Chelsea defenders The Mexican international waited for Cech to commit before beating him with a left-footed shot.
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