Chelsea looked up for the game in the early going but failed to create much and were made to pay for some poor defending when Ryan Giggs touched a free kick to Paul Scholes which the Englishman smashed into the bottom corner. It was a fabulous strike by Scholes but Ranieri would have been disappointed that not even one of his defenders picked up Scholes. United continued to look the better side and passed the ball around crisply. Van Nistelrooy went close when he beat the offside trap only to be foiled by Carlo Cudicini. But Van the man never misses two chances and, when through on goal again, he rounded Cudicini before slotting home. The final five minutes of the half failed to bring much incident and Chelsea had half time to analyse where they had gone wrong and adjust.
Zenden replaced the injured Gudjohnsen but never really looked threatening, like most of his colleagues. United, on the other hand, looked much more up for it and never looked like conceding. They continued to create chances and, but for some remarkable saves by Cudicini, could have romped it. They did manage a third goal with four minutes to go when Van Nistelrooy turned Desailly before playing in Giggs, Instead of shooting, Giggs crossed for the unmarked Solskjaer to place the ball into an empty net to round off the win.
If we are to win the FA Cup in a fortnights time then Ranieri needs to get his troops back in order. Because on this display, Arsenal will rip us apart...