Chelsea, Man Utd triumphed respectively

Aston Villa 0-1 Chelsea
------------------------ Anelka 19'

A 19th minute strike by Nicolas Anelka gave Chelsea a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa in a thrilling Premier League encounter at Villa Park. This was his first goal in 9 league games. Villa suffered their first defeat in 13 matches while Chelsea leapfrogged their rivals to the 3^rd, keeping their slim title hopes alive.

The Blues comprehensively outplayed Villa in the first half with superb football skills, and when Lampard's brilliant jinking run allowed him to ran straight through Aston Villa's defence and put in a lovely through pass for the sprinting Anelka through on 19 minutes. The Frenchmen finish was just as good; he hit a perfect chip straight over the diving Friedel. It was just a reward.

Villa fought back strongly after half-time, however, dominating the match for long periods without ever managing to find the back of the net. Chelsea held on for the win, and were even close to adding a second in the dying stages as Ballack's rifled shot forced an astonishing acrobatic save from Brad Friedel.

The victory was a great start for Chelsea's new coach, Guus Hiddink; a fluid, powerful demonstration against a side who posed plenty of awkward questions to their visitors during an exhilarating encounter. Chelsea launched the Guus Hiddink era in a positive fashion. His influence is already evident in galvanising the players who had underperformed during the closing stages of the Luiz Felipe Scolari reign.

The match began at a frenetic pace, with Chelsea dominating possession, thanks to silky passing and movement that kept the opponent at arm's length. However, they had few clear-cut chances. Drogba shot straight at the keeper after 3 minutes and again 6 minutes later, while Alex cut stopped Agbonlahor from getting on the end of Milner's 18th minute cross.

However, Villa nearly equalised, Heskey earned a dubious free kick just outside the box, and Young thundered a brilliant dipping shot heavily against the underside of the crossbar with Cech beaten.

The 2^nd half saw Villa come out strongly in search of an equaliser, and the home side did well to overturn Chelsea's dominance as they started to take control of the match. Agbonlahor and Milner both came close on 54 minutes, Agbonlahor's close-range strike forcing a corner from which Milner almost netted with a volley, and Barry's excellent left-foot shot forced a great save from Cech on 68 minutes.

But it was Chelsea on the counter-attack who had the best opprtunities to alter the scoreline. Terry's header was cleared off the line by Petrov on 49 minutes, while in injury time Deco's pass for Michael Ballack led to the German firing a stunning shot that was brilliantly saved by Friedel.

Manchester Utd 2-1 Blackburn
Rooney 23', Ronaldo 59' -- Santa Cruz 32'

Manchester United extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to 8 points after a 2-1 victory over a gutsy and determined but unfortunate Blackburn side at Old Trafford, conceding their first goal in 14 matches.

Man Utd started the match in top form, and when Rooney got on the end of Nani's cross on 23 minutes it looked as if they would cruise to an easy victory. But Santa Cruz's well-taken equaliser on 32 minutes got the visitors back in to the match, as they belied their lowly league position and took the game to the champions. A second-half free kick by C.Ronaldo gave the lead back to them on 59 minutes.

Blackburn's best efforts looked as if they would be able to bear fruit as they hit the post and should have had a penalty, but the hosts held on to earn the 3 points after a thrilling end-to-end final 15 minutes.

United started the match showing phenomenal quality in their passing and dribbling, with Ronaldo and Nani switching effectively between the two flanks and creating several early chances.

At 1-0 it looked as if the hosts might run away with it, an impression that was confirmed when Pedersen squandered a free-kick on the half-hour mark by smashing a supposed cross a clear 20 yards past its intended targets. But just 2 minutes later all negative thoughts were forgotten as Santa Cruz showed why he attracted so much interest during the transfer window, getting on to the end of a ball from Andre Ooijer, he rounded United's second string keeper Kuszcak and found the net from an acute angle.

The goal was so much against the run of play that it seemed to jar the hosts, who took minutes to settle down. They recovered towards the end of the first half, with a headed goal by Jonny Evans that was disallowed for Ronaldo having pushed a defender elsewhere in the box.

The 2^nd half began in a thrilling fashion, with Ronaldo going close with a long-range effort before Blackburn ran up the other end for Ooijer to put in a cross that none of the waiting players could quite connect with. Ronaldo showed his best and worst, being at the centre of most attacks as well as committing a cynical dive, for which he was awarded a yellow card.

It was the winger who scored on the hour mark when Man Utd won a free-kick after Nani was floored on the left of the box. The kick itself was a fantastic strike from a tight angle, flying with plenty of power into the roof of the net and past the outstretched hands of Robinson.

Blackburn gave plenty in reply, hitting the post on 64 minutes before Pedersen was denied what seemed to be a clear penalty 2 minutes later when he was pulled down by Evra. The penalty - as well as the red card for Evra - seemed clear to all except the referee, but Blackburn never came closer for all their tireless efforts over the final 25 minutes.

The result saw Blackburn stay in the bottom 3 for now, a bitter ending to what must have been a frustrating game for Sam Allardyce's side - while Alex Ferguson's team continue to set the standard at the top of the Premier League. If only Blackburn had equalised, it would be quite a different story altogether...