English FA Premiership/Chelsea 3-0 Manchester United: Alex Ferguson had better check his mail for writs. Before this match he claimed that the present collection of Manchester United players is "as good a squad as we have ever had".

The men who did the Treble in 1999 and slammed in 97 goals while retaining the Premiership a year later should have been consulting their solicitors about an action for slander.

When a manager speaks, of course, a faithfulness to the facts is not always uppermost in his mind. Ferguson intended to raise spirits, but his mistake was to give hostages to fortune. There was clearly a possibility of Chelsea winning with such ease to retain the title that the Scot would be left looking as if he had lost touch with reality.

There has always been a close resemblance between Ferguson and Mourinho. Each will infuriate listeners with perverse versions of events. Each, once he is outside the dressing-room, cannot concede that their team or club could ever do anything wrong.

At present there are few headlines to condemn Ferguson or his side. He must miss them a little because the tranquillity is a sign that United are being ignored.

Saturday's game showed once more why that is the case, despite the efforts of Wayne Rooney before he again broke a metatarsal. While United's goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was not very busy, Chelsea ran the game, finished clinically and might have made this a greater rout. At the effective close of their season the team reminded everyone how formidable it really is and a reversion to the 4-3-3 system brought out the best in most players.

There were plentiful reminders of the sheer excellence of footballers such as Claude Makelele. The defensive midfielder has a pared-down style, but it is still superb. Apart from the interceptions and tackles, his passing is nuanced as the ball rolls perfectly into the stride of a team-mate who wants to build momentum. He possesses gifts that are seldom indulged because they are not appropriate to his overall role.

His individual accomplishment, though, was delicious in a first-half incident. It seemed that Makelele was running into trouble, but, with a dip of the shoulder, he hoodwinked two United players and his feint took him into space. The visitors proved to be stooges when they were supposed to be buccaneers who would try to plunder three points to keep the English Premiership contest alive.

For the first goal, in the fifth minute, Didier Drogba outjumped Nemanja Vidic to connect with Frank Lampard's corner and William Gallas headed in at the far post. For the second, after 61 minutes, Joe Cole got away from Rio Ferdinand and Mikael Silvestre to take a chested pass from the dominant Drogba and flight a shot past Van der Sar.

The last goal was a piece of exhibition play designed to hush anyone who thinks Chelsea are capable solely of pragmatism. Ricardo Carvalho won the ball off Louis Saha and then gave possession to the midfield while he made a long run down the left.

Following passes from Lampard and Cole, the Portuguese smacked a drive into the net at the near post.

Carvalho's season has been mixed but he was a centre-half of supreme quality on Saturday. Gallas apparently wishes to leave for AC Milan, unhappy with both the contract on offer at Stamford Bridge and the fact that Mourinho, like many coaches before him, does not reckon he has the height or weight to play regularly in the middle of defence.

Chelsea would find it simple to raise Gallas's earnings, but it will be tougher to meet his requirements on the field. These, all the same, are the headaches of a club with a throng of gifted performers. It used to be like that for United too. On Saturday, however, every outfield player was inadequate, with the exceptions of Gary Neville and Rooney.

The latter did waste a chance to equalise in the 22nd minute, but had made it by himself as he latched on to a loose ball and nutmegged Paulo Ferreira before shooting wide. United were particularly weak across the midfield and the seemingly encouraging runs of results they get are misleading. A side that is well-equipped in the centre of the pitch, as Liverpool were in the FA Cup tie at Anfield, will subjugate Ferguson's team.

Deep down, the manager would be glad if Rooney had a summer of rest and gradual recovery instead of a World Cup because his dependence on him is immense. United need only four more points to reach the total that landed the title in 2003, but the bar has been raised and, on Saturday's evidence, the side is barely getting off the ground.