Chelsea provided United with the guard of honour they had promised, but only three regular first-team players started the game for Sir Alex Ferguson's side.  Jose Mourinho also took the opportunity to rest a host of his own first-teamers ahead of the FA Cup final between the two clubs on May 19.  Chelsea were the first to show any attacking desire when Shaun Wright-Phillips was put clean through on goal by John Obi Mikel.

The former Manchester City winger managed to get a shot away but Tomasz Kuszczak denied him an opening goal with a one-handed save.  Wright-Phillips surprised Kuszczak in the 15th minute when his cross almost dropped into the net at the far post with the United keeper struggling.  In the 20th minute Mikel’s challenge on Chris Eagles brought him a booking from referee Graham Poll and a further caution for Gabriel Heinze for dissent.

Chelsea captain John Terry and Kuszczak required treatment after colliding with each other as they challenged for a corner.  Terry recovered the quicker of the two while the United goalkeeper was allowed to continue after having a head wound dealt with.  United's first chance of the game arrived in the 36th minute when Terry’s poor header fell to the feet of the waiting Alan Smith but instead of having a shot himself, the United schemer's pass was deflected into the path of Heinze who fired wide from six yards.

When Paulo Ferreira's cross was fluffed by Kuszczak, the ball rolled into the path of the advancing Claude Makelele but the veteran midfielder - who is hardly renowned for his goalscoring - sliced his effort wide.  Terry had a fleeting chance to end the stalemate seconds before the end of the first half but his shot was deflected into the air and the Chelsea defender’s follow-up header was collected easily by Kuszczak.

Chelsea replaced Mikel with Joe Cole at half-time and the home side momentarily lifted the tempo.  United defenders Kieran Lee and Wes Brown were booked within minutes for poor challenges on Cole and then Scott Sinclair respectively.  Chelsea’s Lassana Diarra then found himself on the wrong side of referee Poll when he upended Chris Eagles.  The Chelsea player was shown the yellow card but United failed to punish them further when Kieran Richardson’s free-kick sailed by Carlo Cudicini’s right-hand upright.  United’s Dong Fangzhou then tried to beat Cudicini with a clever chip but the ball dropped harmlessly over the crossbar.

In the 53rd minute Sinclair was replaced by Israel international Ben Sahar before a fractious period of play.   First Michael Essien was booked for throwing the ball away and moments later United felt they should have had a penalty when the Ghana international challenged Eagles.  Eagles was then booked for his late challenge on Wright-Phillips which brought the tally of bookings to five inside 12 minutes since the start of the second half.  In the 64th minute Michael Carrick replaced Heinze for United but it was Chelsea who almost broke the deadlock four minutes later when Wright-Phillips tested Kuszczak with a stinging shot.  Chelsea almost won it two minutes from time but Sahar’s effort was cleared off the line by Kieran Lee.