Ballack brings back the belief: United still in pole position but Chelsea will take race to the finish

It wasn't pretty — often it was pretty ugly — but the sound and the fury that emerged from Stamford Bridge accompanied an incident-crammed, controversy-filled game at the end of which we still just about have a title contest.

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Lunchtime on a sunny English spring day meant prime time in Asia, two goals from Michael Ballack overshadowed Wayne Rooney's first against Chelsea in 16 appearances.

Ballack's winner was also a first — the first penalty United have conceded this season. Germans and penalties. There was never a doubt.

Except in United's mind. Sir Alex Ferguson was furious with the assistant referee and appeared at the end of the match to be heading for referee Alan Wiley but instead pulled away his complaining players, who had been squaring up to opponents and referee moments earlier amid an ill-tempered, desperate and frustrated late onslaught for a point.

And what irony in that last-gasp assault. The Chelsea manager Avram Grant had sent on forgotten £30 million striker Andriy Shevchenko to pinch a winning goal.

Instead, he cleared a shot off the line to preserve their lead. "It was an exciting and emotional game," said Grant. "In sports you need to be optimistic and today we were, before the game and during it."

"Chelsea were the better team in the first half," Ferguson admitted, before lamenting second-half decisions.

The advantage is still with United, though. Such is their superior goal difference — 16 — that wins from their last two games, at home to West Ham and away to Wigan, will give them the championship no matter what Chelsea achieve against Newcastle away and Bolton at home.

The momentum, though, might just be with the London side after this deserved victory over a United team that started at well below full strength, with Ferguson taking a gamble and resting players ahead of the Champions League return against Barcelona, a luxury Chelsea could not afford before their game against Liverpool.

United are wilting with the line in sight. They have now taken only two points from their last three away games. Self-doubt is besetting them at the wrong time of the season and they are starting to look vulnerable.

Yesterday they lost a bloodied Nemanja Vidic early on after he took an accidental knee in the face from Didier Drogba in the most graphic example of the physical intensity of the game, while Rooney was forced from the field with a strain in his left hip that threatens to preclude him from the crucial endgame.

For Chelsea, all was well that ended well. At one point, the tension of the game at its height at 1-1 in the second half, Ballack and Drogba argued over who should take a free-kick.

Instead of looking to be indicative of a team losing the plot, it turned out to be a case of the will to win spilling over.

"I am proud of them," said Grant. "It has come from wanting to win."

The day represented a difficult juggling act for Ferguson. He would surely have wanted to have secured the title yesterday but he knew that with his side's goal difference so good, United could afford to lose.

Thus, with the visit of Barcelona on Tuesday in mind, he made six changes from midweek, notably dropping Cristiano Ronaldo to the bench, along with Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves. He had to rip up that strategy with less than a quarter of the game gone, however, with the woozy Vidic having to be carried off on a stretcher. On came Hargreaves at right-back, with Wes Brown moving into central defence.

Chelsea, who got off to a rip-roaring start, had made three changes themselves. The main one saw Michael Essien replacing Frank Lampard, who was absent due to the death of his mother, Pat. In the first couple of minutes, Essien shot over United bar, then saw a volley saved by Edwin van der Sar.

They went even closer when Petr Cech sent a long ball upfield and Salomon Kalou laid it off to Joe Cole, who wriggled his way into the United penalty area and sent a shot against their crossbar.

The lead came seconds after fourth official Mike Riley had held up the board to signal four minutes of added time. Drogba, again retaining possession well as Brown climbed over him, worked some space to send in a cross from the right to the far post, where Ballack arrived on cue to guide a header past Van der Sar's groping left hand.

United had been uncharacteristically unambitious in the first half and their equaliser 10 minutes into the second came out of the blue — and out of the Blues. Referee Alan Wiley was waving play on after Anderson fouled Drogba but the Chelsea player demanded a free-kick.

He was soon wishing he hadn't. From the kick near the halfway line, Paulo Ferreira played the ball inside to his Portuguese team-mate Ricardo Carvalho, who, in turn, played it inside. Rooney pounced, John Terry unable to catch him, and strode on before drilling a low shot past Cech and in off a post.

It was Rooney's last meaningful action after suffering the injury that should not keep him out of Barcelona game. Now Ronaldo was introduced and United scented success, especially with Drogba and Ballack arguing. Grant left them to it, letting his assistant Steve Clarke and captain Terry sort things out.

But there was no row over who would take the penalty in Lampard's absence after Carrick handled Essien's cross. Drogba even offered Ballack his best wishes as the German kept his cool as Mikael Silvestre and Van der Sar sought to distract him. He duly dove home.

Ashley Cole, from Ronaldo, and then Shevchenko from Darren Fletcher's header cleared off the line. "The save of the year," enthused Grant of the latter. Actually, if Chelsea do win it from here, that will be the save of the year.