Game time: 11 am November 26th, 2006
Location: (Old Trafford) Manchester, England

The action began in a tentative fashion, with Chelsea displaying a great deal of respect for the current league leaders. Man U, however, seemed more willing to test their opponents early. At 7:00 Wayne Rooney rushed into the box and sent a pass that narrowly missed a wide-open Cristiano Rinaldo as it was inadvertently redirected by teammate Louis Saha. At 9:10 Ryan Giggs broke into the right side of the box and sent a nice cross that his mates failed to meet.

Chelsea’s respect for Man U only equated to the cautious play, for they dished out many hard fouls from start to finish (they would end with three yellow cards to one for United). Midfield general,Michael Ballack, nearly placed himself in card trouble early with a forearm shove that sent defender Nemanja Vidic to the pitch. Chelsea defender, Ricardo Carvalho, soon thereafter put a hard foul on Wayne Rooney; descending through the air behind him, he lowered the crown of his head before head-butting him in the back of the skull. Another infraction against Ballack (handball) led to a United free-kick from close range. Rinaldo, in brilliant fashion, sailed the ball over the wall of defenders and had it on a trajectory to dip in just under the crossbar but for a leaping save by Carlos Cudicini. Not at all surprising was the fact that Chelsea only needed 21 minutes to draw their first card - a yellow card on Claude Makelele for intentional handball as he tried to keep the play deep in Man U’s end.

Until the 29th minute the game was predominantly played in midfield, with most attacks being well met and stifled. But then, in an all too simple fashion, Giggs sent a crisp diagonal pass from back right mid up-field to Wayne Rooney in central left, who deftly dished it ahead on a right diagonal to Louis Saha, who cut to the left and fired the ball around two defenders, rifling the ball into the net just inside the right post and past a diving Cudicini.

Continued after the jump...

Chelsea was soon to give a response with Didier Drogba - tied for the EPL goal scoring lead with 8 - rushing into the box before being denied by the Red Devils’ defense. His frustration began to show as he drew a yellow two minutes later in the 36th minute for putting an arm to the face of Vidic, who was abused by Chelsea all game long.

Decent chances followed until halftime with both squads having opportunities. Geremi Njitap let go a laser from 30 yards out that required a diving save from Man U’s Edwin Van der Sar just inside the right post. In the 44th minute Ryan Giggs once again led a strong rush from left mid into the box, which was played well by the Chelsea defense. Frank Lampard of Chelsea let off a rifle of a shot that drew a diving save. If unchecked, however, the ball would have gone wide, leaving Chelsea with only one decent shot for the first half and only the hint of danger against United, which had numerous quality attacks throughout the half.

Chelsea, however, came out much stronger in the second half as Lampard and Drogba took turns missing from close range around the 58th minute. Man U rushed back down the field and narrowly missed adding to their lead as Gigg’s shot was stopped with another diving save. A minute later Chelsea was back on the attack. Drogba laid out a perfectly placed ball for midfield danger-man Frank Lampard, but Lamps sent it sailing well over the crossbar, as he would continue to do for the rest of the game. Clearly though, the tenor of the match had changed as the attack went from one end of the pitch to the other.

The equalizer came in the 70th minute as Carvalho leapt to meet an excellent John Terry corner kick, his contact sending the ball flying into the crossbar near the left post. The ball ricocheted outward onto the head of Louis Saha and then backwards into the net over the keeper’s outstretched arms. Van der Sar was doubly injured as his forehead bounced off the post at the end of the frantic scramble.

In keeping with the game’s frenetic pace, Man U quickly swept down the field only to have a Saha shot blocked from close in followed by a redirected Paul Scholes take that narrowly missed the right corner. Back down the other end, Van der Sar rushed out to prevent Drogba from coming in on net all alone, and the ball was harmlessly dribbled ahead and out of bounds. A return rush was halted by a hard tackle against Cristiano Rinaldo. The guilty party, Ashley Cole, received a yellow for the takedown, which saw Rinaldo leave the game.

Image Credit: Flickr user EPL Talk