Manchester United v Chelsea: five things we learned at Old Trafford

United’s pace kills

Chelsea created the majority of first-half chances and they had their fair share in the second half, but they had no answer to Manchester United’s pace on the counter-attack.

The sight of Ashley Young and Nani marauding forward in a blur of speed and power, with Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernández ripping up the yards into the centre, tore at the heart of Chelsea.

Phil Jones, at centre-half, also joined in on the act to create Rooney’s goal and Chelsea could not cope.

On the face of it, Fernando Torres had one of his better performances. The £50 million striker worked his defenders with pace and movement, getting behind Jonny Evans several times, and scored with a clinical strike from Nicolas Anelka’s pass two minutes into the second-half.

But as good as the goal was, his howler of a miss seven minutes from time will provide the defining image of his Chelsea nightmare unless he finds the form that has been in cold storage for two years.

Nani has arrived

It has taken four years and plenty of teething problems, but Nani can now regard himself as a fully-fledged Manchester United player and not the guy who cannot fill Cristiano Ronaldo’s boots.

Replacing Ronaldo was always an impossible challenge and Sir Alex Ferguson steered clear of billing Nani as a successor to his Portuguese team-mate. But his stunning goal against Chelsea was pure Ronaldo. Pace, power and the confidence to try his luck from distance.

Ferdinand’s fragility

As United have beaten all-comers so far this season, Rio Ferdinand has been conspicuous by his absence, appearing just twice in the first team.

Against Chelsea, a calf injury consigned the 32 year-old to a seat in the directors’ box and he has already missed games due to a hamstring problem. Sir Alex Ferguson’s concerns over Ferdinand’s susceptibility to injury prompted him to sign Phil Jones in the summer and the 19 year-old is making the most of his opportunity.

Lampard: end is near

Frank Lampard’s withdrawal at half-time almost went unnoticed, largely due to his total anonymity during the first half. The England midfielder had been rested by André Villas-Boas for the Champions League clash against Bayer Leverkusen in midweek, but he hardly looked fresh against United’s livewire midfield.

Lampard has been a tireless performer for over a decade for club and country, but the strengths of his prime – box-to-box energy and desire – are on the wane.