Red-letter day for Blues

LONDON: Chelsea retained the Premier League title when they crushed second placed Manchester United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The victory put Jose Mourinho's side 12 points clear of United with two games to play.
Defender William Gallas gave Chelsea a perfect start, nipping in to head past Edwin van der Sar after four minutes when Didier Drogba knocked on Frank Lampard's corner.
A magnificent individual goal from midfielder Joe Cole just past the hour mark made it 2-0 and Ricardo Carvalho finished off a sweeping move with a fierce shot after 73 minutes to put the title party in full swing.
United responded to the early setback of Gallas' goal to carve out several chances, the best falling to Wayne Rooney after 21 minutes when he sped through on goal but pulled his shot wide of Petr Cech's goal. Rio Ferdinand and Cristiano Ronaldo also had chances for United but their hopes of keeping the title race alive were killed off by a moment of brilliance from Cole.
The England player latched on to a long Cech clearance that was flicked on by Drogba, danced past Ferdinand and Mikael Silvestre before calmly finishing past Van der Sar.
United became ragged in the final 20 minutes and Carvalho's rifling shot merely rubbed salt into their wounds as they were left to reflect on a third season without the league title.
Meanwhile, Liverpool boosted their chances of snatching second place by beating Aston Villa 3-1 at Anfield. Captain Steven Gerrard capped the win with a second half double after Gareth Barry had cancelled out Fernando Morientes' early strike. Liverpool moved level with United on points but they have only one game left to play while United have two.