Chelsea hewed by referee  Mark Clattenburg, Manchester United do not have a complaint, When Liverpool win ?

Chelsea 2 Manchester United 3: Christmas present for Manchester United by referee

Sir Alex Ferguson usually leaves Stamford Bridge moaning about referees and about luck. This time the old curmudgeon departed with a grin on his face and three fortunate points in his pocket.

Two seasons ago his rant against Martin Atkinson landed the United chief with a five-game touchline ban and a £30,000 fine. He was seething last season as well, even though his team came back from three goals down to claim a draw.

But Mark Clattenburg will probably escape Ferguson’s wrath after this performance. Chelsea, on the other hand, are much less likely to regard the Gosforth referee with a great deal of fondness.

Having fought back from two goals down to level the game on an enthralling afternoon at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were then reduced to nine men – as first Branislav Ivanovic and then Fernando Torres were sent off – and then 15 minutes from time they saw Javier Hernandez score a winning goal from a clearly offside position.

As weekends, in fact as weeks go, Chelsea have had better. Beaten by Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in midweek, they followed it up with this calamity – their first defeat in the league this season.

But how unlucky they were, and how Roberto Di Matteo’s men fought, even with nine men, to the very end.

Clattenburg will not be on many Christmas card lists around SW6 for a while.

It was, in fact, a rotten display by the man who is regarded as the Premier League’s second-best official and who could represent England at the next World Cup. The sending-off of Torres was ludicrous.

The Spaniard had been rightly booked for a high boot on Tom Cleverley in the first half. But at the time he was sent off, Chelsea were down to 10 men, he was chasing a ball and faced four defenders.

Jonny Evans clearly caught the Spaniard, who went down belatedly. But Clattenburg would have had to have been 100 per cent certain it was a dive to have produced that second yellow. Nevertheless, out it came.

Ivanovic’s red card was marginally more clear-cut, the Serb cutting across Ashley Young and catching him.

The fact was, he was the last man, and he had to go – but it looked harsh. So Chelsea were down to nine after a valiant display. Had they hung on it would have been a triumph. However, Di Matteo’s men ran out of luck there, too.

Robin van Persie turned and shot, Petr Cech palmed the ball away but then had to scramble back as the ball spun towards the line.

The half-clearance went straight to Rafael, who fired the ball back in – but Hernandez was clearly behind every Chelsea defender when the full-back delivered for the Mexican to stab in from point-blank range.

Chelsea could barely believe it. As the teams walked off, Ashley Cole confronted Clattenburg to express his rage. It is far too early in the season to declare that this could be a decisive result. But it will be significant.

And Chelsea will forever point to Clattenburg and his performance as the reason for their first setback in the Premier League.

On a breathless afternoon, United got off to a lightning start after just four minutes. Chelsea were caught out on the left and Wayne Rooney pulled the ball back for Van Persie to shoot.

The ball came back off the post – only to bounce off David Luiz and into the net.

Cole was having a torrid time down that flank as Chelsea looked all at sea and, eight minutes later, Antonio Valencia wriggled free and crossed, and Van Persie, criminally unmarked, crashed in United’s second.

Chelsea were reeling. But gradually, inexorably, they fought their way back into the game, inspired by the magnificent Juan Mata.

A cross bounced off Evans and the post as United escaped and then visiting keeper David de Gea kept out Luiz’s free-kick with a foot and saved superbly from Torres.

But then Rooney gave away a foul on the edge of the area and Mata curled a glorious free-kick into the corner of the net. Chelsea were back in it. In fact, had De Gea not saved well from Mata again with his feet seconds before the interval, they would have been level.

It came anyway. Chelsea now had their tails up. Oscar crossed the ball from the left and there was Ramires to nod down and in.

At that point, Chelsea had the ascendancy and United were the team who were wobbling. But then Clattenburg took a hand.

Refereeing is not an easy job. Let no one doubt that. But performances like this do not make defending the men in black any easier.

But it was some match and how about doing it again?

We do not have to wait long as the teams meet in the Capital One Cup here on Wednesday night.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 7; Ivanovic 6, Luiz 6, Cahill 6, Cole 6; Ramires 7, Mikel 7; Mata 8 (Bertrand 71, 6), Oscar 7 (Azpilicueta 66, 6), Hazard 7 (Sturridge 81, 6); Torres 6. Booked: Torres, Mikel. Sent off: Ivanovic 63, Torres 69. Goals: Mata 44, Ramires 53.

Manchester United (4-1-4-1): De Gea 7; Rafael 7, Ferdinand 7, Evans 7, Evra 7; Carrick 6: Valencia 7, Rooney 7 (Giggs 73, 6), Cleverley 6 (Hernandez 64, 7), Young 7; Van Persie 8. Booked: Rooney, Valencia. Goals: Luiz og 4, Van Persie 12, Hernandez 75.

Referee: M Clattenburg ? (Tyne & Wear).

Watch Chelsea vs Manchester United Match Video:

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Everton 2 Liverpool 2 : No one in the Merseyside Derby was not happy

Form may be no great indicator for derby matches, but Luis Suarez still managed to adhere to the prescribed script put forward by both managers on the eve of the city divide.

At the end of a thunderous encounter that stirred the senses just like any other of the previous 218 between these feisty neighbours, the striker found himself cast as both victim and villain.

Suarez was sinned against when what would have been a winning goal was wrongly disallowed for offside in injury time, assistant linesman Simon Bennett’s flag hoisted so late that Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard was already celebrating in front of the visiting fans at the other end of the pitch.

It did little to shake Brendan Rodgers’ belief that the rub of the green presently eludes his side.

Yet by the dying embers, Suarez had already been cast as sinner.

It was not for the provocative, celebratory dive in front of the Everton dug-out following Liverpool’s opening goal which came in mocking response to David Moyes’ barbed, pre-match comments about the Uruguayan’s penchant for the dark arts.

“I thought that was great,” said the Everton manager, who took his own skipper Phil Neville to task at half-time for a dive that earned him a booking.

“I may have done the same to him if we had won 3-2.”

Instead, Moyes was angered by the “over the top” tackle on Sylvain Distin in the 71st minute, which earned Suarez a booking when the hordes in a seething Goodison Park demanded a red card. It was not just over Suarez where the arguments of Rodgers and Moyes were polarised .

Rodgers spoke glowingly about his side’s character but should be annoyed a two-goal advantage gleaned inside 20 minutes was quickly surrendered, while having clawed their way back into the tussle Moyes might have assumed Everton would go on and secure a first come-from-behind derby success since 1992. Not that Everton initially harboured such ambitions. Referee Andre Marriner deserves credit for allowing play to continue in the build up to the breakthrough.

Seamus Coleman could have been penalised for snapping at Jose Enrique’s ankle and Steven Naismith for sniping at Suso, but instead the Liverpool duo constructed a clever move which saw a cross arrowed dangerously across the face of goal. It fell to Suarez at the far post and he rifled a cross-come-shot which struck the inside of Leighton Baines’ right leg before rebounding into his own goal.

Suarez immediately set off towards the Everton bench and belly flopped theatrically in front of Moyes, whose post-match humour was probably not a true reflection of how he felt at the time. Point made, Suarez then set about trying to secure three by doubling Liverpool’s advantage. With no Everton player near him, he applied the slightest of headed touches to Steven Gerrard’s free-kick and what is forgotten amid all the hyperbole that surrounds Suarez is that he now has eight goals in just 11 starts this term.

At that point, it seemed the pressure to perform in the heat of battle was again proving too much for Everton and the timing of their riposte – within two minutes – was crucial to them clambering off the canvas. Baines dropped a corner on top of Brad Jones and instead of punching the ball towards the flank, it squirted off his knuckles to the edge of the area to Leon Osman.

After chesting the ball down, he rifled a low shot through a crowd of players which clipped Joe Allen’s calf before nestling in the back of the net.

In an instant, the momentum shifted. Kevin Mirallas took advantage, feeding Marouane Fellaini and watching Naismith turn his low cross home in front of the day-dreaming Jose Enrique to complete the scoring after just 35 minutes.

The failure of the eye-catching Mirallas to reappear after the break, his absence the legacy of a mistimed tackle from who else but Suarez, blunted Everton’s intent along with Rodgers’ decision to switch formation to three at the back.

The Liverpool manager claimed the introduction of Sebastian Coates and Jonjo Shelvey was in response to Everton’s insistence upon “smashing long balls” forward, the sort of comment that will light the blue touch paper today ahead of the resumption in hostilities next May.

Ironic then that it was Gerrard’s set-piece from deep which was met by Coates, rising above Phil Jagielka, that Suarez thought he had stabbed home. Not for the first time this season controversy was to stalk Suarez.

Everton (4-4-1-1): Howard 6; Coleman 7, Jagielka 7, Distin 7, Baines 7; Naismith 6 (Oviedo 85), Neville 6, Osman 7, Mirallas 7 (Gueye 46, 6); Fellaini 6; Jelavic 6. Booked: Osman, Neville, Jagielka, Coleman. Goals: Osman 22, Naismith 35.

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Jones 6; Wisdom 6 (Henderson 70, 6), Skrtel 7, Agger 7, Enrique 5; Allen 7, Gerrard 7; Sterling 7, Sahin 6 (Coates 46, 6), Suso 6 (Shelvey 46, 6); Suarez 7.Booked: Sterling, Agger, Suarez. Goals: Baines og 14, Suarez 20.

Referee: A Marriner (West Midlands).

Watch Everton vs Liverpool Match Video:

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Barclay Premier League Other Results

Aston Villa 1 – 1 Norwich City

Reading 3 – 3 Fulham

Stoke City 0 – 0 Sunderland

Wigan Athletic 2 – 1 West Ham United

Arsenal 1 – 0 Queens Park Rangers

Manchester City 1 – 0 Swansea City

Newcastle United 2 – 1 West Bromwich Albion

Southampton 1 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur

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