03/10/1999  Chelsea 5 Manchester United 0

As the final whistle blew on Manchester United's worst 
defeat in three years, the Stamford Bridge celebrations 
indicated more than just the achievement a long-awaited 
victory that will take pride of place in the video collections 
of all Chelsea fans.

The Blues' faithful had witnessed not only a rout of 
amazing proportions but also compelling evidence of the 
dawning of a new era - one in which their side can truly be 
considered as title favourites even at this precariously early 
stage of the season.

For the gulf between the two sides had been simply 
extraordinary.

United simply capitulated in surely one of their worst 
defensive displays for years. In truth, they were absolutely 
dreadful - in disarray at the back, uncompetitive in midfield 
and starved of chances up front.

Chelsea, in contrast, were flooding with confidence, their 
play energised by Didier Deschamps and Dennis Wise in 
midfield, given momentum by Gustavo Poyet's ceaseless forward 
runs and at last provided with a cutting edge by Chris 
Sutton.

Having gone ahead through Poyet within a minute of the 
kick-off after yet another appalling mistake by keeper Massimo 
Taibi, Sutton scored his first Premiership goal of the season 
15 minutes later.

The floodgates then opened after Nicky Butt was sent off 
midway through the first-half for kicking Dennis Wise and the 
second period saw Poyet's second, an own goal by Henning Berg 
and a fifth by Jody Morris complete the rout.

It was the first time Chelsea had beaten United at Stamford 
Bridge for six years, the first time United had lost in the 
League for 30 games and their worst defeat since losing by the 
same score at Newcastle in October 1996.

But over and above those impressive records, it was also a 
massive psychological milestone in the history of Chelsea, who 
had taken weeks if not months to recover from similarly being 
put to the sword by United in the FA Cup third-round in 
January last year.

This time, the comedy of errors started as early as the 
28th second when Taibi, who appears to be collating a 
goalkeeping blunders video all of his own, came out and 
flapped at a cross by Dan Petrescu and left Poyet to 
comfortably head home.

Given that Chelsea have had trouble hitting the target, let 
alone scoring, over recent weeks, it was the perfect start for 
Gianluca Vialli's side and United's spirit of generosity only 
increased from then on.

With Jaap Stam attempting - but ultimately failing - to 
hold the side together single-handedly, Sutton and Poyet 
threatened again, with United simply unable to contain the 
Uruguay international down Chelsea's left flank.

Sutton duly doubled the home side's advantage as United's 
defence capitulated yet again on 16 minutes as Chelsea took a 
quick free-kick and Ferrer cantered down the right flank 
before delivering a pin-point centre.

Sutton was waiting unmarked in the penalty area to send a 
looping header over Taibi's desperate dive and his exultant 
celebrations were understandable given that it was the first 
goal a Chelsea striker had scored for 11 games.

With a face like thunder, Sir Alex Ferguson promptly left 
his seat in the directors' box in disgust but on his arrival 
at the touchline, he was confronted within only a couple of 
minutes by the sight of Butt being sent off.

Wise had been guilty of a nearly head-high flying tackle on 
the midfielder, for which he was later booked, yet Butt 
reacted by kicking the Chelsea captain after a sharp exchange 
of views between them.

Wise may well have reacted dramatically yet Butt had to go 
for a moment of Beckham-esque petulance and it was ironically 
the England winger who shepherded his complaining team-mate to 
the sidelines.

On the pitch, United's complaints continued, with Andy Cole 
almost sparking a melee, and the atmosphere intensified as 
Celestine Babayaro and Denis Irwin wrestled each other to the 
ground.

Scholes should also apparently have been sent-off for a 
kick at Sutton which went unnoticed by referee Dermot 
Gallagher but at least United then seemed to wake up, with 
Phil Neville and Beckham pushing inside.

The visitors even had a chance to get back into the game - 
their only opening of the first-half, if not the entire game - 
but Ed De Goey produced a wonderful diving save to deny 
Scholes.

While the contest was temporarily more even, Chelsea 
continued to dominate though with Sutton and Poyet again 
coming close and there was no respite for United's beleaguered 
defence.

Nine minutes after the break, Frank Leboeuf's shot was only 
parried by Taibi and as the static United defence remained 
virtually rooted to the spot, Poyet strode in ahead of Mikael 
Silvestre and Irwin to strike home the rebound.

Four minutes later, it was turning into humiliation for 
United as Zola crossed from the right and, with Sutton 
threatening behind him, Berg succeeded only in diverting the 
ball past the hapless - but this time helpless - Taibi.

At least the Italian keeper produced a fine save to tip a 
lob by Petrescu over the bar but Ferguson had seen enough and 
made a triple substitution with Teddy Sheringham, Ole Gunnar 
Solskjaer and Mark Wilson replacing Cole, Scholes and 
Beckham.

However, it made no difference whatsoever.

For Vialli simply threw on three replacements of his own - 
Tore Andre Flo, Graeme Le Saux and Morris - and the first two 
combined to set up the England Under-21 international for 
Chelsea's fifth.

The Blues were by now rampant, pulling United apart with 
embarrassing ease, as all the frustrations of their inability 
to score over recent weeks came flooding out.

They probably should have scored a sixth but were 
ultimately more than content with five amid a deserved 
standing ovation.

And with Arsenal also losing at West Ham, the significance 
of this afternoon's results was as unmistakeable as United's 
embarrassment.