Chelsea v Manchester United - in pictures

No doubt the United fans who have made the trip to west London will have been rifling through their bumper book of jibes ready to shoot a few in Ashley Cole's direction Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Those same United fans will be hoping that Rooney has got his shooting boots on today but has left his own lethal weapon, his right elbow , at home Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian That jibe is worth 3 out of 5. It's not a bad effort, if a little obvious Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Rooney, Nemanja Vidic and Paul Scholes practice their 'Leave it Wayne, he's not worth it routine' Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian The two teams enter the fray infront of a crowd of 41,825 Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Even though Chelsea are 15 points behind United, Alex Ferguson's side know that the reigning champions could put a spanner in the works of their title pretentions. Consequently the challenges are flying in: here Michael Essien is fouled by Vidic who gets a yellow card Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Fernando Torres complains to the referee after a foul Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian United are having the best of the first few minutes, Nani controls the ball in front of Branislav Ivanovic Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Just before the half hour mark Rooney shows everyone that he is indeed wearing his shooting boots when he unleashes a rocket to give United the lead. He receives the ball 30 yards out and the Chelsea defenders stand off him so he heads towards goal before fizzing a low shot past Petr Cech and into the net. It's the United striker's first Premier League goal from outside the area for three seasons Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Towards the end of the first half Edwin Van der Sar earns his corn with a fantastic double save. Lampard fires in a free kick which the United keeper parries and the ball falls to Branislav Ivanovic who takes a touch and then is about to prod the ball into the net when a yellow clad arm shoots up from the ground to knock the ball away from him and then paws it out of harms way. Van der Sar is going to be sorely missed between the sticks when he hangs up his gloves at the end of the season Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Wayne Rooney gives to Javier Hernadez and goes Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian David Luiz blocks off Wayne Rooney Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian "Shoot" the United fans shout every time Ashley Cole gets the ball. After the free kick he took just before half time, you can bet that it's something that his team-mates won't be shouting in the second half Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian It's not just the Chelsea players who are complaining to the ref Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian In the 53rd minute Chelsea equalise courtesy of David Luiz's first goal for the club. He receives a knock-down from Ivanovic and finds himself in acres so has time to settle himself and display exquisite pose and technique to slam the ball home low and and hard. It's a finish equal to Rooney's in the first half Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian After a number of feisty challenges, David Luiz finds himself in the ref's book after an hour's play. The straw that broke the camel's back was when he smashed into the back of Wayne Rooney Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Rooney gets to feel what it's like to be on the receiving end of an elbow to the bonce when David Luiz crashes into the back of him as they compete for a header Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian That hurt Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian I'm sure that Ancelotti didn't mean this when he told David Luiz to get close to Wayne Rooney Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Everyone is holding their breath as Wayne Rooney's shot heads goalwards, but unfortunately for United the ball just misses the target Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Mid-way through the second half, Sir Alex attempts to mix things up a bit as he goes in search for a winner. He brings on Ryan Giggs for his 606th appearance, equallying Bobby Charlton's record Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Ryan Giggs shows his still got it when he plays a long, raking, pin point pass with the outside of his left boot Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian With just 11 minutes to go, Chelsea are awarded a rather dubious penalty after Frank Lampard slips the ball to substitute, Yuri Zhirkov, who then runs into Chris Smalling and then falls over. The referee, Martin Atkinson, deems it to be a foul and points to the spot. Lampard, who's scored 3 out of his 5 penalties so far this season, doesn't take any chances and smashes the spot-kick high and straight into the middle. 2-1, Sir Alex won't be happy about either going behind or the decision Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian True blue Frank Lampard shows his allegience to the fans Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian During injury time Nemanja Vidic tugs back Ramires as he goes past the United defender and heads towards the box. The referee pulls out the yellow card and the United captain is off as it's his 2nd bookable offence Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Peeeepp. That's it, the final whistle and time for the Chelsea players to celebrate. If Ancelotti's side had been able to put together that sort of performance in more games this season, they'd have found themselves challenging at the top of the table for the title, rather than scrapping around hoping that they make fourth and qualify for next season's Champions League Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian