Man Utd see off Chelsea to extend 100% record.

Manchester United went 2 points clear at the top of the Premier League after beating Chelsea 3-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday. The game was a lively encounter that Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, who suffered his first league defeat since April 2010 when with Academica,  rightly described as "chaotic".

The game was a spectacle to be admired by the neutral and fans of either side will be dismayed and pleased in equal measure with both sides' performances. The final whistle made sure that United earned their 18th sucessive victory at Old Trafford, beating a record held by the club since their 1904/05 campaign, giving Sir Alex Ferguson his best start to a Premiership season as manager in the process.

Chelsea should not be too disheartened by their performance, maybe even the result, as they had plenty of chances to take something from the game and came up against a Utd side that is purring with confidence at present as they continue to demolish anything in their path.

Chelsea started brightly but it was Man Utd that took the lead after eight minutes thanks to Chris Smalling heading home from Ashley Young's free kick. Smalling looked to be offside when Young swung the ball into Chelsea's penalty box with Jonny Evans unmarked and onside behind him to head home if Smalling failed to do so.

Chelsea were undeterred by the deficit as Juan Mata and Fernando Torres worried the home side's defence and Ramires should have equalised for Chelsea but David De Gea saved his tame shot on 25 minutes. The game continued to excite for the remainder of the first half and Nani made it 2-0 eight minutes before the break with an incredible strike from just outside the area. Nani, picking the ball up just inside Chelsea's half, was given far too much space to run at the Chelsea defence before his blistering strike left Petr Cech helpless as the ball soared past him into the far corner.

United made it 3-0 on the brink of half time as Wayne Rooney scored his 9th goal of the season, pouncing on John Terry's rebounded clearance. Rooney, as opportunistic as ever, was not picked up by any Chelsea defender as he ran free to tap in from 8 yards.

Villas-Boas replaced Frank Lampard with Nicolas Anelka at half time and the manager's decision was vindicated within the first minute of the second half as Fernando Torres scored only his second goal for the club in 24 appearances. Anelka's superb pass found Torres' magnificent run and the Spanish striker finished with aplomb as he flicked the ball with the outside of his right foot past the approaching De Gea.

The score remained the same for the rest of the second half and a lot of the reasoning behind this can be put down to farce. Firstly, Utd had the chance to make it 4-1 as Nani was brought down by Bosingwa in the penalty area and Rooney was given the chance to make it 10 goals in 5 Premier League games. The England striker stepped up to take the penalty but slipped at the vital moment, putting the ball horribly wide.

If you were embarrassed for Rooney at the time you were unaware of what was to come from Torres. With just eight minutes left the striker, whose movement was excellent all afternoon, was sent clear by Ramires, delightfully passed De Gea but could only put wide with nothing but an empty net to aim at. This ended Chelsea's hopes of a comeback and the neutral's chance of a grandstand finish and probably left Torres with a feeling of "one step forward, two steps back".

Ashley Cole's terrible tackle on Javier Hernandez was a sour note on a terrific afternoon with the England full back lucky to only receive a booking with the referee's decision to award a card and no penalty a bemusing one befitting of the day's game.