MANCHESTER: Chelsea took maximum advantage of Wayne Rooney's enforced absence to move into pole position in the Premier League title race with a 2-1 win over Manchester United here on Saturday.

Goals from Joe Cole and substitute Didier Drogba amounted to a fair reflection of the Londoners domination of opponents who looked distinctly short of inspiration without their 34-goal star striker.

A late strike from substitute Federico Macheda ensured United kept the contest alive to the death and, on another day, United might also have enjoyed a better return from three debatable penalty appeals.

But the champions could scarcely complain about the outcome after failing to create a single clear scoring opportunity in open play before Macheda bundled a cross from fellow substitute Nani over the line with nine minutes left.

Rooney's absence did not entail a change of shape for United, with Dimitar Berbatov - who once again failed to live up to his status as the most expensive signing in the club's history - slotting in at the sharp end of an attacking trident made up of Ryan Giggs and Antonio Valencia.

Ancelotti's pre-match suggestion that Drogba was too important to be left out proved to be a smokescreen as the Italian opted for the same line-up that started last weekend's 7-1 demolition of Aston Villa.

That meant Nicolas Anelka leading the line and Cole and Florent Malouda occupying the flanks and it was the two wide men who combined to give Chelsea the lead after 20 minutes of cagey opening exchanges.

From wide on the left, Malouda wriggled past Valencia, turned inside Gary Neville and powered into the area, muscling Darren Fletcher aside on his way to the byline.

The Frenchman's low cross found Cole at the near post and, despite the attentions of Patrice Evra, the England international was able to produce a deft little flick through his own legs to find the net.

That piece of improvisation made amends for Cole having wasted the best chance of the match until then, when he shanked his shot from an inviting Anelka pass.

For United, Berbatov had headed a Valencia cutback high over the bar and Evra had had an effort from the corner of the penalty area comfortably saved by Petr Cech.

The home side did have two first-half penalty appeals, Park Ji-Sung tumbling, somewhwat theatrically, under a challenge from Yuri Zhirkov and Berbatov behing up-ended by Frank Lampard, who looked to have played the ball fractionally before he swept the Bulgarian's standing leg away.

In between those two, Chelsea had what looked like a stronger penalty claim of their own turned down after Neville barged Anelka off the ball inside the area, while the threat posed by Malouda was underlined by the bookings both Neville and Scholes received for fouls on the Frenchman.

United appeared oddly listless but Fletcher injected a note of urgency as the hour approached, driving through the middle to create a shooting opportunity for Park.

The South Korean sliced his effort wide but United took the half-chance as their cue to move up a gear. Berbatov was narrowly off target with headers from Giggs and Neville deliveries from the right while Evra forced Cech to flap at a equally menacing cross from the opposite flank.

United had another penalty appeal waved away when Antonio Valencia headed a Giggs free-kick against the upper arm of Malouda.

That looked like it might be a last chance for the champions after Drogba, who looked to have drifted fractionally offside, collected fellow substitute Salomon Kalou's pass and hammered an unstoppable finish past van der Sar at his near post.

Nani and Macheda, combined to give the home side a lifeline but United never seriously threatened to produce the equaliser that would have kept them at the top of the table with five matches to play.

Chelsea the favourites as Fergie fumes at ref

MANCHESTER: Carlo Ancelotti and Sir Alex Ferguson both installed Chelsea as favourites to win the Premier League title after a 2-1 win at Manchester United sent the Londoners two points clear with five games left to play.

"Chelsea are definitely favourites now, there is no question about that," United boss Ferguson acknowledged. "Two points clear with five games left, it's a great position for them to be in." Ancelotti echoed the United manager's comments. "Now we are the favourites, yes. That's normal when we are back at the top of the league.

"But nothing is decided. We have to stay composed, quiet and maintain focus in our game." Chelsea looked comfortably in control for most of the match although there was controversy over the Didier Drogba strike which gave them a two-goal cushion with the Ivory Coast striker adding to Joe Cole's first-half effort from a clearly offside position.

"It is very disappointing," Ferguson said. "Chelsea were by far the better team in the first half but in the second half we did well and we were unfortunate not to get something from the game." A late goal from substitute Federico Macheda gave United hope of salvaging a draw at the end of the match but it was telling that the Italian teenager's scrambled effort was the only clear chance the home side created from open play.

"At Old Trafford, we always think we can rescue it, unfortunately not today," Ferguson added, before turning his attentions to the match officials.

"On the Drogba goal, the linesman was directly in front of him, there was not a soul near him and he gets it wrong. "In a game of that magnitude, to get that wrong, it's very poor." Ferguson refused to be drawn on three debatable penalty appeals for his side but could not resist a swipe at the match referee, Mike Dean, who also denied Chelsea what appeared to be a stronger claim for a penalty than any of United's.

"I don't want to get into that," Ferguson said, before adding: "When I saw it was Mike Dean I was worried." Ancelotti shrugged off the controversial decisions. "I never comment on the referee's decision," he said. "It is offside when the linesman's flag goes up, it is a penalty when the referee blows his whistle." Man-of-the-match Florent Malouda admitted that United had been below their best following their exertions in the Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich which resulted in Wayne Rooney sustaining an ankle injury that has ruled him out for up to three weeks.

"We wanted to be top after this match," Chelsea's French winger said. "It was hard but we played really well. It means a lot after the bad week we had (when Chelsea went out of the Champions League last month). We knew we had to react and we reacted in the best possible way.

"Champions League matches take up a lot of energy and that is why we started the game so quick. We knew that if we played with a high intensity they could have some problems."