Premier League: Manchester United 3 Chelsea 1

Manchester United continued their 100 percent start to the Premier League with a dramatic 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Sunday.

Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney, who later missed a penalty, did enough to overcome Fernando Torres’ reply, in a match that was tumultuous, thrilling and frequently baffling.

The home side took their first opportunity of the match when Ashley Young swung a free-kick into the box, and the anonymous Chelsea defence allowed Smalling acres of space in which to head home.

Chelsea began to dominate the attacking play in search of an equaliser, but a relatively rare United foray forward was nearly decisive when Nani clipped a cross into the centre of the box towards Rooney, but Raul Meireles made a crucial interception.

The Blues should have equalised immediately after, as, on the break, Juan Mata fed through Torres, who pulled it across the box into the path of Ramires, but the midfielder made a mess of a shot he should have buried and de Gea snatched it.

With Chelsea still on the attack, Torres attempted an overhead kick on the edge of the area from Daniel Sturridge’s cross, but it sailed harmlessly wide of the post.

And sure enough, Chelsea were made to pay for their variety of squandered chances, when, out of nowhere, Jonny Evans brought Nani into play with a long cross-field pass. The winger moved slowly and deliberately inside a compliant Mata before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the top corner from 25 yards to throw Andre Villas-Boas’ plans into further chaos.

A few minutes later, just as Chelsea considered regrouping at half-time, Phil Jones drove relentlessly forward into the penalty area and, as he fell to the floor, the ball popped up out of the mess of players into the path of Rooney, who could not have missed, and so Chelsea, for long periods the superior side, reached the break 3-0 down.

Villas-Boas reacted by bringing on Nicolas Anelka for Frank Lampard, and it brought immediate results as the Frenchman played Torres through precisely from the left, and the Spaniard finally scored his second Chelsea goal, a beautiful chip over the helpless de Gea.

Suddenly, with Chelsea pouring forward, United broke and Nani rattled the crossbar with a monstrous shot, but any disappointment was erased when he was awarded a penalty.

Rooney stepped up to take the kick but his comical slip from the spot saw him launch the ball skywards, with the watching John Terry reminded of one night in Moscow.

The visitors continued to press, however, as a rejuvenated-looking Torres evaded two defenders and let off a vicious shot, but de Gea was equal to it, with the striker then blasting the rebound over the bar.

With Chelsea coming, they might have been killed off once again when, as Terry missed his interception on Evra’s low cross, Rooney looked certain to score from close range, only to see his effort bobble off the post in a huge let-off for the Blues.

As Javier Hernandez pounced on the rebound, firing wide, he was scythed down by Ashley Cole. No penalty was given as the shot had already been dispatched out of play but the left-back was lucky only to garner a yellow card.

And suddenly the moment came. Ramires removed the entire United backline from the equation with a brilliant through-ball for Torres, who rounded de Gea and had to score, yet somehow contrived to shoot unacceptably wide in the face of an impossibly easy open goal.

As the match moved into stoppage time, Dimitar Berbatov seemed certain to bury a fourth, fed by Rooney on the break, but a heroic last-ditch run from Cole was enough to reach the ball in time. But Chelsea could not summon enough to find a comeback before the game’s end.