Salomon Kalou’s late equaliser salvaged a 1-1 draw for Chelsea against Manchester United on Sunday and extended the Blues’ unbeaten streak at home in the Premier League to 85 games.
Park Ji-sung gave Manchester United an 18th-minute lead in a fiery game at Stamford Bridge, but Kalou headed home a freekick for Chelsea’s deserved equaliser in the 80th.
Referee Mike Riley showed only one of the eight yellow cards to Chelsea, but angered Blues fans by blowing the final whistle after striker Didier Drogba had been fouled on the edge of United’s area.
The bus taking United’s players from the stadium had its windscreen cracked by a bottle hurled by a fan.
The Blues moved up to second in the standings, ahead of Liverpool on goal difference but a point behind Arsenal, who won 3-1 at Bolton on Saturday. United have five points from four games and are 15th in the standings after only one victory.
“I felt we deserved a point,” United manager Alex Ferguson said.“They had a lot of freekicks around the box at the end, but we worked hard and I felt we deserved it. We played with great tempo in the first 20 minutes. The real shame was that we didn’t go for the jugular at 1-0 up. We had control of the match at that point, but we eased off and allowed them to get to halftime.”
United are expected to be fined, but Ferguson didn’t think the game merited the number of cautions.“The game is being screened worldwide. Everyone is watching it and something like that goes on,” he said of the yellow cards. “It was a competitive game but I did not think there was one bad tackle in it.”
Chelsea lost midfielder Deco with an injury during the warm-up, and manager Luiz Felipe Scolari said it made a big difference as his team struggled in the early stages.
“It affected our transition from midfield to attack and for 15-20 minutes, United made the pressure and made a goal,” he stated. “They played very well. After that we had more chances than them, but we missed some chances in front of goal.”
Scolari was amazed that Riley blew for fulltime when the Blues should have been awarded a freekick for a foul by Rio Ferdinand on Drogba.“This was strange for me, for the referee to finish the game at that time,” Scolari said. “But he’s the boss on the pitch and it is his decision and we need to accept that.”
Chelsea lost Ricardo Carvalho after only 12 minutes, while United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar limped off with a leg injury midway through the first half after racing off his line to block a shot from Florent Malouda.
In a lively and entertaining opening spell, both teams missed chances before United took the lead.
Joe Cole shot wide with only Van der Sar to beat and then Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech deflected a shot from Ferdinand over the bar.
United went ahead with a well-worked move that started when Rooney sent Patrice Evra down the left flank and he crossed to Dimitar Berbatov. The forward’s low shot was blocked by Cech, and Park slotted the ball into an empty net.
Like the game between the teams near the end of last season, the match had plenty of spicy tackles and confrontations and Riley lectured several players for repeated fouls.
Chelsea sent on Drogba for the second half to partner Nicolas Anelka and add extra height to the attack, and United countered by bringing on Cristiano Ronaldo for Paul Scholes in the 54th.
Anelka missed an easy close-range chance from Joe Cole’s cross with 20 minutes to go and Rooney squandered a great opportunity to score a second in the 77th when he shot wide from Ronaldo’s pass.
Rooney was partly to blame for Chelsea’s equaliser in the 80th when he needlessly fouled Ashley Cole deep in his own half. Kalou was unchallenged when he met John Mikel Obi’s freekick to head home from close range.
Ricardo Carvalho could be out for a month and Deco could miss two weeks of action.
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