23/09/2007  Manchester United 2 Chelsea 0
 
The ghost of Jose Mourinho lingered over Old Trafford as Avram Grant's reign as Chelsea boss started in the worst possible manner.

In 11 meetings with Manchester United, Mourinho lost only once. Grant now finds himself needing to go 10 undefeated to match that record as first Carlos Tevez, with his first goal for United, then Louis Saha with a controversial penalty, struck at the end of either half.

Their efforts allowed the Red Devils to take maximum advantage of Mikel Jon Obi's first-half dismissal for a studs-first challenge on Patrice Evra.

High above, in the United directors' box where Roman Abramovich fell in love with the game four years ago, the Chelsea owner must think the football life is not so good after all.

With one point from their last three games, Chelsea have fallen out of the Premier League's top six and Grant will need all the ability Abramovich believes he has to get them back into contention.

It took the Chelsea fans 10 minutes to launch into their first 'Jose Mourinho' chant and another 10 to bellow 'Stevie Clarke's blue and white army', offering a clear indication as to whose side they are on in the power battle which has divided Stamford Bridge this week.

In so many ways, Grant is the complete opposite to Mourinho. Certainly when referee Mike Dean pulled out a red card to remove Mikel, the Israeli's predecessor would probably have done something a bit more demonstrative than skip down the dugout steps to rearrange his team.

Mikel and United have an acrimonious past. The Nigerian signed for the Old Trafford outfit, posed in a red shirt and spoke about his desire to play for the club, only to then change his mind, getting involved in a protracted dispute which took a £12million payment from Chelsea to United to resolve.

The young midfielder, handed a start ahead of Salomon Kalou, could barely believe his eyes when he saw the punishment Dean decided to inflict for his challenge on Evra.

But the referee clearly felt Mikel had led with his studs and duly sent him down the tunnel.

Having conceded a lot of possession and a number of half-chances to their hosts, the best of which Petr Cech saved superbly after Wayne Rooney had curled a shot towards the top corner in only the second minute, Chelsea adjusted well to their handicap.

Joe Cole, who might have conceded a penalty when he lunged in on Evra, dropped a little deeper, Andriy Shevchenko took up the role of willing lone striker and Claude Makelele stood firm in front of an obdurate Chelsea defence.

Indeed, Grant must have felt reasonably positive as he prepared to deliver his first half-time team-talk.

But all that changed in stoppage time as Ryan Giggs' corner was half-cleared to Wes Brown.

The makeshift full-back intelligently found Giggs with an instant return pass, offering the veteran Welshman enough space to drill over a low cross with the outside of his left foot.

Tevez, whose contribution to the United cause has been patchy since completing his long-winded move from West Ham, anticipated Giggs' delivery, stole in front of Cech and steered home a fine header.

It was a hammer blow for Chelsea and without key men such as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Ricardo Carvalho, they had little alternative other than to withdraw their 10 men behind the ball for long periods of the second-half and hope something fell their way.

For far too long, the hosts laboured in pursuit of a second.

Giggs volleyed Carrick's inspired crossfield pass over and Tevez curled a free-kick wide.

Amid all this, Rooney got involved in a running feud with Ashley Cole which saw him booked and then lectured for a crude lunge on his England colleague as Steve McClaren sat watching in the stands.

Other notable luminaries in attendance included one-time Chelsea target Sven-Goran Eriksson and Holland coach Marco van Basten, whose presence was intriguing given the only Dutchman on view was veteran keeper Edwin van der Sar, who he presumably has no need to assess.

In any event, the United keeper was a virtual spectator, even if it could be argued Cech was hardly extended at the other end.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who produced one of his most ineffective performances in recent times, sent a free-kick bouncing into the goalkeeper's arms seven minutes from the end.

Saha settled lingering nerves a minute from time when, after going down under minimal contact from Tal Ben Haim, he drilled home the penalty.

As he assessed his situation from the touchline, Grant can only hope his luck improves pretty quickly.