United earn slight advantage

SOCCER/English League Cup semi-final, first leg/Chelsea - 0 Manchester Utd - 0: These wealthy clubs may well cram the forthcoming years with a dispute over the honours of English and even European football, so perhaps we should not have expected anything to be decided on a single night.

Manchester United were concerted in their work and, despite Phil Neville's 84th-minute clearance from the goalline of Jiri Jarosik's drive, they deserve the little advantage they will hold when the search for a place in the League Cup final continues at Old Trafford in a fortnight.

Alex Ferguson's team was not the one he would have sent out if this had been a fixture to pass judgment on his club's season, but listlessness was never a danger last night.

The pairing of these clubs has become a guarantee of intensity and Louis Saha, having already been denied a penalty early in the match, could twice have put United in front before half-time.

Both managers might have succumbed to the temptation to send out their best players since the new rivalry charges even a League Cup tie with meaning. It was, however, Jose Mourinho whose resistance caved in completely.

With Arjen Robben suspended, this was the most potent outfield line-up he could find, and even Wayne Bridge, having shaken off a virus, was in position.

Ferguson, with an early kick-off at Anfield on Saturday in mind, followed a different policy. Wayne Rooney needed involvement after his three-match suspension, and Saha, injured for the past two months, has had too much rest for his own good. Otherwise the Manchester United manager wanted a carefully controlled commitment.

This presented difficulties to Mourinho's side and they would not be so easily overcome when the visitors still had a lot of talent at their disposal. The early howls for penalties came from United supporters after challenges on Saha and, later, Ronaldo. Saha's should certainly have been given but the referee Neale Barry failed to detect Tiago's foul.

The contest was keen enough to dull the quality of the play, with many interceptions and mistakes. United at least had more conviction to their attacks than when they lost in the league here on the opening weekend of the season.

While Roy Keane may have been excused the match, a formation that closely resembled Chelsea's had three midfielders to cover the defence and challenge early. None of that would have made Chelsea jaws drop, but it did ensure that men like Frank Lampard had to struggle to play the sort of pass they have preferred.

United forced the one noteworthy save to be seen before the interval when Saha, in the 38th minute, connected with Darren Fletcher's cross from the right, but the Frenchman's header was at a reachable height and Carlo Cudicini turned it behind.

The Frenchman's shortage of sharpness had been even more glaring in the 14th minute, when he rose unmarked to Rooney's corner and still headed it well wide.

There had been no such clarity to Chelsea's chances, and they had the ball in the net when Damien Duff met a partial clearance by John O'Shea with a cross that Eidur Gudjohnsen turned in from an offside position.

Chelsea had been rather speculative at the outset, even if a Duff drive narrowly missed the angle of crossbar and post after he had cut in from the right. Their best moment, though, came when Paulo Ferreira delivered an inswinging cross with his left foot and a touch of Lampard's head took it just beyond a post.

Chelsea badly required more vigour in attack and, predictably, Gudjohnsen made way for Didier Drogba at the interval. It seemed to give Mourinho's side a better basis in attack and, in the 48th minute, a sharp build-up let Lampard break across the pitch and work his way round the right of United's defence. The finish beat Tim Howard but was blocked by Gabriel Heinze.

Before that, Cole had sent a speculative first-time attempt wide from some 35 yards after the United goalkeeper had miskicked to him. With the action slowing to be a little more methodical, Chelsea had found their touch.

Lampard was finding scope and bounded on to a knockdown from Drogba to put a shot past the post after 52 minutes. For all that, United were scarcely on the point of collapse and the introduction of Paul Scholes showed Ferguson reacting to Chelsea's spell by increasing the threat.

Raising the stakes, Mourinho brought on another forward, Mateja Kezman, in place of the midfielder Tiago.

These clubs have become combative empires and the substitutions were their own arms race.

CHELSEA: Cudicini, Paulo Ferreira, Terry, Gallas, Bridge, Lampard, Makelele, Tiago (Kezman 66), Cole (Jarosik 75), Gudjohnsen (Drogba 45), Duff. Subs Not Used: Cech, Johnson. Booked: Drogba.

MAN UTD: Howard, Phil Neville, Silvestre, O'Shea, Heinze, Ronaldo (Smith 90), Fletcher, Djemba-Djemba (Scholes 61), Fortune, Saha, Rooney. Subs Not Used: Carroll, Miller, Spector. Booked: Heinze, Ronaldo.

Referee: N Barry (N Lincolnshire).