Mario Melchiot celebrates his early strike at Old Trafford
Man Utd 0-3 Chelsea
Manchester United's season went from bad to worse with a comprehensive defeat to Chelsea at Old Trafford.
The Londoners completely outplayed United, who fell to their fifth defeat in only 14 Premiership fixtures and dropped out of the top six.
Sir Alex Ferguson attempted to shore up his defence by starting with skipper Roy Keane alongside Laurent Blanc, and switching Wes Brown to right-back.
But the changes brought no improvement in form as the visitors dominated the match, missing several chances to extend their lead further.
After Ruud van Nistelrooy fired straight at Carlo Cudicini in the opening moments, Chelsea took control.
In the sixth minute, Mario Melchiot got in front of Wes Brown to head home a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink corner from close range.
Hasselbaink then fired over from six yards out soon after, and Graeme Le Saux was unlucky to see his dipping shot rebound off the crossbar.
United came out stronger in the second half but did not seriously threaten to score, as William Gallas and John Terry led an impressive defensive display from Chelsea.
The home side made little impression and were made to pay for their lack of cutting edge in the 64th minute.
Juan Sebastian Veron failed to track Hasselbaink, who latched on to an Eidur Gudjohnsen pass and fired a low angled shot past Fabien Barthez.
Within a minute United finally breached the Chelsea defence, only to see Cudicini beat Van Nistelrooy to a through ball.
Paul Scholes lobbed the ball back over the stranded keeper, but the ever-present Gallas was on the line to head clear.
The desperate state of affairs for United led to the inevitable arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from the substitute's bench, with a low-key David Beckham making way.
But there was to be no late revival from the champions.
Hasselbaink missed an excellent chance with 10 minutes remaining, before Gudjohnsen completed the scoring with another angled drive in the 87th minute.