Oct 31, 2009 - 4:14 PM
0 shoutsBy DANIEL ROSE STATS European Football Writer=
LONDON (SE) - Champions Manchester United reduced Chelsea's lead at the top of the Premier League to two points with a comfortable 2-0 win over unambitious Blackburn at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson's team now have 25 points from eleven matches and Blackburn did little to get in their way, hiding behind a deep defence and leaving just Franco Di Santo as their sole attacker.
United had plenty of possession but it was not until the 56th minute that they were finally able to find a way through the Blackburn rearguard when Dimitar Berbatov scored.
Wayne Rooney, with his eighth of the season, put the match out of Blackburn's reach with the second after 87 minutes and there was time still for substitute Michael Owen to miss a late sitter.
Blackburn's desire to defend-in-depth was understandable after the way they had let in 16 goals in their last four away fixtures.
Berbatov should have scored in the 32nd minute when unmarked but his header was tipped over the bar by Paul Robinson.
So it was almost an hour when the Old Trafford crowd was at last stirred to life when Berbatov turned sharply in the area to volley home a low centre from Patrice Evra.
Only then did Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce change his game plan, sending on winger Morten Gamst Pedersen in place of Keith Andrews to provide some attacking options.
Nikola Kalinic came on for Di Santo but it made little difference and with three minutes left Anderson crossed for Rooney to score with a superb half-volley.
Alardyce made no apologies for his tactics and felt his team were well on the way to making them successful for 56 minutes.
Allardyce said: "We have had some poor results away in recent weeks so this was a deliberate policy to frustrate United by filling the midfield and catching them on the break.
"You know that at Old Trafford the task that confronts you. They have so many good players and you have to try to deny them a bit of room and space.
"I thought they were getting a bit frustrated and the crowd had gone quiet. But then they scored and we were always chasing after that."
Blackburn were denied a consolation goal in stoppage time when Kalinic knocked the ball into the net after Edwin Van der Sar had parried a Benni McCarthy shot. Croatia striker Kalinic's celebrations were short-lived with his effort being ruled out for off-side.
Man Utd boss Ferguson said: "Teams come to Old Trafford and make it difficult for us. We have to find ways of overcoming them.
"Blackburn posed a few questions, packing the midfield. But it was up to us to find the answers and that was never going to be easy.
"We had one or two chances in the first half and if we had taken them I think the pattern of the game would have changed.
"But we kept to our task, worked hard and started to wear them down and I don't think anyone can say we did not deserve to win. We had so much possession."
United gave a Premier League debut to Gabriel Obertan in the second half as substitute for Nani.
