Reuters
London, May 10: Chelsea and Manchester United, league champions old and new, produced a strictly mid-table performance on Wednesday in a goalless showdown that came a month too late.
The game, which should have been one of the highlights of the season, was downgraded to dead rubber status when United secured the title on Sunday by virtue of Chelsea only drawing 1-1 at Arsenal.
It would have been very different if the fixture had been played when originally scheduled for FA Cup semi-final weekend in April, when United were just three points ahead, but with the teams due to meet again in the Cup final on May 19 it became a more of a damage-limitation exercise.
Alex Ferguson put out a virtual second-string team. China forward Fangzhuo Dong donned the red shirt competitively for the first time more than three years after joining the club, full back Kieran Lee made his first league appearance and Chris Eagles his first start. Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick were on the bench and Cristiano Ronaldo not involved at all.
Chelsea were much more recognisable, though they too gave a first start to 18-year-old forward Scott Sinclair in the continuing absence of 31-goal striker Didier Drogba and for once were without Frank Lampard, missing for only the second time in 62 games.
The Londoners at least had something to play for as they sought the result that would extend their unbeaten home league record to 63 games dating back to February 2004 and thereby match Liverpool's all-time top flight mark set between February 1978 and January 1981.
There seemed little danger of them missing out on the landmark in a dreary first half that barely involved the two stand-in goalkeepers, Carlo Cudicini of Chelsea and Tomasz Kuszczak of United.
Things picked up a little after the break as the tackles began to fly in and the respective managers took turns to leap into the technical area to remonstrate.
Eagles might have had a penalty when he was tripped by Michael Essien but then was lucky to escape with a yellow card when he took his frustration out on the shins of Shaun Wright-Phillips.
United's Alan Smith, hoping for a Cup final berth to cap his comeback from a broken leg, showed plenty of aggressive running in midfield and Wright-Phillips clipped in some inviting crosses for Chelsea but there was precious little quality from the two best teams in the country.
Chelsea eventually began to exert some pressure with Salomon Kalou twice going close, while 17-year-old Israeli international Ben Sahar had a last-minute effort cleared off the line by Lee but nobody seemed that bothered, or surprised, when it ended 0-0.