Man Utd down and out of title race after Chelsea stroll

Samuel Eto'o back to his best as he fells the champions with Stamford Bridge hat-trick

phil-jones-man-utd.jpg
(Image credit: 2014 Getty Images)

Chelsea 3 Manchester United 1. A hat-trick from Samuel Eto'o kept Chelsea breathing down the neck of Arsenal and Manchester City, while condemning United to another wretched defeat. Not only were the reigning league champions comprehensively beaten by the Blues, they also had Nemanja Vidic sent off for a wild injury-time challenge on Eden Hazard. Rafael should have followed his captain down the tunnel after a two-footed lunge on Gary Cahill but by then perhaps referee Phil Dowd felt sorry for United and produced only a yellow.

It was certainly a day for the impartial to pity David Moyes and his men. Javier Hernandez's goal on 78 minutes was nothing more than a consolation with Chelsea on cruise control after the game had been wrapped up half an hour earlier. Eto'o followed up his two first-half strikes with a third goal on 49 minutes as Chelsea brushed aside their illustrious visitors' with ease.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Bill Mann is a football correspondent for The Week.co.uk, scouring the world's football press daily for the popular Transfer Talk column.