Manchester United drub Chelsea 3-1

Nani and Wayne Rooney star in 3-1 drubbing of Chelsea as Manchester United take two-point lead over Man City, who were held 2-2 by Fulham

Manchester United drub Chelsea 3-1

Nani and Wayne Rooney star in 3-1 drubbing of Chelsea as Manchester United take two-point lead over Man City, who were held 2-2 by Fulham

Manchester United maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season with a 3-1 win over title rivals Chelsea, while Manchester City surrendered their 100 percent record as Fulham fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 yesterday. Sir Alex Ferguson's side blew Chelsea away thanks to three goals in the first half from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney.

Manchester United's Nani celebrates after scoring against Chelsea
during yesterday's EPL match in Manchester. Pic/AFP

Fernando Torres reduced the deficit soon after half-time with only his second goal for Chelsea, but later missed an open goal and United could have won by a greater margin as Rooney wasted a second half penalty. United's victory equalled a club record of 18 consecutive home wins and moved them two points clear of second placed Manchester City at the top of the table and five ahead of third placed Chelsea.

Ferguson said: "Some of our football was fantastic but we were very careless at times. We did ok when we got the ball to Young and Nani. They couldn't cope with that. But we created problems for ourselves by giving the ball away so many times."

At Craven Cottage, Sergio Aguero scored a brace to put City in command. But Bobby Zamora and Danny Murphy scored one each to ensure Roberto Mancini's side could steal only one point from the game. Elsewhere, Sunderland won their first game this season with a 4-0 thrashing of high riding Stoke City.

Key moments:
8 minutes:u00a0 Chris Smalling heads in the opener for Man Utd of a brilliant Ashley Young free kick.
37 minutes: Nani doubles the Red Devils' lead with a cracker from 25 yards out.
45 minutes: Phil Jones' cut back is blocked and Rooney smacks the rebound in from 8 yards out.
46 minutes: Anelka plays an inch perfect through ball to Fernando Torres who scores with a dink over Utd goalkeeper David De Gea.
56 minutes: Rooney slips and blasts his penalty wide after Bosingwa brought down Nani in the box.
83 minutes: Torres rounds De Gea but somehow fails to score with an open goal in front of him.

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