After those two Champions League stalemates, a match that lived up to its billing. Chelsea took punitive advantage of Sir Alex Ferguson’s gamble on fielding a half-strength team and kept their title hopes alive with a deserved tooth-and-nail victory, gained by two goals from the resurgent Michael Ballack.

Plagued by injury, it has taken a long time for Germany’s World Cup captain to come to the fore after his recruitment by Jose Mourinho nearly two years ago, but in the absence of Frank Lampard, who is mourning his mother, Pat, Ballack stepped up to the plate and settled this dramatic summit meeting with a plunging header and the sort of penalty with which his countrymen have broken so many English hearts down the years.

Manchester United chose to rest six players before the decisive second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona on Tuesday and will rue the decision if they drop a point in either of their remaining Premier League games against West Ham at home or Wigan away while Chelsea win their last two, at Newcastle and at home to Bolton. In that event, Avram Grant would be transformed overnight from “The Undertaker” to “The Miracle Worker”.

Did he believe his team could yet triumph? “Yes,” he said. “If you are not optimistic in situations like this, you shouldn’t be involved in sport.”

His players clearly share his belief. They were the better, more assertive side for most of the game, and fought back with impressive spirit after Wayne Rooney had briefly deflated them, fastening on to a ghastly backpass by Ricardo Carvalho to equalise.

Ferguson’s six changes after the 0-0 draw in the Nou Camp included omitting Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Paul Scholes, Patrice Evra, Owen Hargreaves and Ji-Sung Park. If he thought the likes of Anderson, Nani, Darren Fletcher and Mikael Silvestre would be good enough to see off Chelsea at near-full strength he was wrong.

Grant’s team, missing only Lampard and Claude Makelele, seized the initiative from the start, as if sensing that United were there for the taking, and dominated a first half in which only some shoddy work by their front three prevented them from taking a commanding lead.

In fairness to the champions and league leaders, they were undermined after 10 minutes by the loss of Nemanja Vidic, their rock-solid centre-half, who was carried off on a stretcher after catching an accidental knee to the face in a collision with Didier Drogba. In the consequent reshuffle, Wes Brown moved into the middle to partner Rio Ferdinand and Hargreaves came on at right-back. Almost immediately, Joe Cole hinted at the vulnerability of the new centre-back pairing by surging through to shoot against the woodwork from 12 yards.

Cole threatened again, Edwin van der Sar saving at his feet on the edge of the six-yard box after a sweeping move that had Ballack at its heart, and Chelsea’s authority was epitomised when Carvalho took the ball off Nani on the halfway line, like taking candy off the proverbial toddler.

Just before half-time, Ronaldo could be seen on the bench mouthing “Come on” to his teammates, who appeared to be caught in the same tentative, safety-first mode in which they stalled in Spain.

His entreaty had no effect. Just the opposite, as the first half went into stoppage time, Drogba’s cross from deep on the right picked out Ballack who, from a central position, headed powerfully past Van der Sar’s left hand.

In a touching rehearsed celebration, the Chelsea captain, John Terry, ran to the bench and returned with a replica shirt bearing the legend: “Pat Lampard RIP”.