Man Utd 2-0 Chelsea

No Room for sympathy, no place for sentiment, as Old Traf ford revelled in Chelsea's week of misery.

Sir Alex Ferguson made the most of Stamford Bridge disarray in the wake of Jose Mourinho's exit as his side ominously shifted into gear, moving up to second place by scoring more than one for the first time all season.

Chelsea had spent the week shooting themselves in the foot, the worst possible preparation for a game that always has so much at stake.

Last night, though, they found themselves scalped by The Apache, as Carlos Tevez scored his first United goal, and undermined by referee Mike Dean twice over.

Dean will surely accept he was wrong to send off John Obi Mikel and make a difficult job nigh-on impossible for Avram Grant and that he was conned by Louis Saha's blatant dive for the clinching penalty in the death throes of the game.

United, for all Fergie's claims to the contrary, are still not firing on all cylinders - but they remain supremely confident about their final destination.

Chelsea, by contrast, are a ship cut adrift without a rudder, listing precariously, buffeted by every passing wind and wave, holed, perhaps fatally, below the water-line.

They have suffered their worst Premier League start since 2000-01.

The most damaging blows, however, have been the selfinflicted ones, the decision taken by Roman Abramovich, whose lop-sided grin as he sat a row in front of Marco Van Basten in the directors' box appears a fixture on his face.

Abramovich alone bears responsibility for the shambles he has created. Even though Grant pointed an accusatory finger at Mr Dean - nowhere near as aggressively as Fergie's claim that Joe Cole's foul on Cristiano Ronaldo could have ended the winger's career - this was a victory handed to United on a plate.

Chelsea were, unfortunately, down to 10 men from the 32nd minute. Sure, Mikel could have pulled out as he lost control of the ball and let it run to Patrice Evra. But it was clear that the Nigerian went in with one foot, not the two the referee insisted he had seen as justification for the red card he produced.

Yet even before that there was an inevitability about the direction of the match, in which the impressive Michael Carrick pulled the strings. Petr Cech was forced into a flying leap to deny Wayne Rooney - later to be sidetracked by a spat with Ashley Cole that saw him teeter on the disciplinary brink once again.

Andriy Shevchenko, clapped off by the owner after an hour as the Chelsea fans gave an altogether different verdict, was the catalyst for so much of the breach between Abramovich and Mourinho.

But surely the Sheva of old, the man Chelsea thought they were buying for £30million, would have been more alert when Michael Essien teased the ball through the six-yard box from the right.

Then Mr Dean saw nothing wrong with England midfielder Cole's desperate tackle after he allowed Evra beyond him and into the box. But Chelsea's gameplan, whatever it was, went out of the window as Mikel's over-exuberance was harshly punished and it became finger in the dyke time.

Nemanja Vidic beat John Terry to a Ryan Giggs free-kick and bring a save from Cech, who then kicked away Rooney's nearpost delivery.

And 30 seconds beyond the two extra minutes that had been signalled, United struck.

Giggs made the most of the second opportunity to deliver from wide on the right and Tevez threw himself in front of Cech at the near post to divert home.

Tevez wheeled away, pointing one finger in the air to the Stretford End, aware he had got the monkey off his back, scoring 12 games faster than it took him to net his first for West Ham.

Chelsea never looked like recovering. Giggs ran behind Paulo Ferreira, catching his volley flush but was unable to keep it on target. Ferreira stopped Ronaldo getting on the end of Rooney's subtle sandwedge and Cech saved from the Portuguese ace's free-kick, as Ferguson launched a touchline tirade aimed at Joe Cole.

But a minute from time, Mr Dean intervened again, falling for Saha's tumble as he brushed into Tal Ben Haim's leg, and allowing the Frenchman to drill home from 12 yards.

Old Trafford rocked with delight and the roof would have come off if Saha had hit the target after getting in behind the Chelsea defence in added time.

For United, though, another dagger had been stuck in Chelsea's exposed guts. Arsenal will see a familiar shape looming in their wing-mirrors too.

After the Mourinho era, has normal service been resumed?