Chelsea 2 Manchester United 1: Vidic’s late dismissal compounds Ferguson’s misery

To make matters worse for the visitors, they had captain Nemanja Vidic sent off for a second bookable offence in stoppage time meaning he will miss Sunday’s trip to Liverpool.

Trailing to Wayne Rooney’s fifth goal in as many league games at the break, Chelsea levelled a thrilling encounter when Luiz volleyed home his first goal since a £25m transfer window move from Benfica.

And when Yuri Zhirkov went down easily under Chris Smalling’s innocuous challenge in the box 12 minutes from time, Lampard strode up to extend an unbeaten home record against their visitors dating back to 2002.

More importantly, it cut United’s advantage over Chelsea – who have a game in hand – to 12 points and opened up the possibility of Arsenal closing to within a point if they win their oustanding game against Tottenham.

The annoyance for Sir Alex Ferguson would have been that Luiz appeared fortunate not to have been sent off for tripping Rooney moments before Lampard’s winner, having already been booked.

Yet, that was only poetic justice given even the United boss felt his star striker was fortunate not to be banned for his attack on James McCarthy at the DW Stadium on Saturday.

Until he found the net, the 25-year-old’s notable involvement of a sustained purple patch for the visitors was to fluff a free header on the edge of the six-yard box.

Then he made the breakthrough. Allowed to creep away from the Chelsea defensive line by John Terry and the otherwise excellent Luiz, Rooney collected Nani’s pass with his back to goal and spun round quickly.

Branislav Ivanovic recognised the danger but was powerless to do anything about it as Rooney took aim from 25 yards and beat Petr Cech with a ferocious shot.

At that stage, United deserved their lead.

Luiz lashed home a 10-yard volley, from Michael Essien’s cross, to pull Chelsea level after the break and chances came and went with breathtaking regularity before Lampard took his from the spot.