Park Ji-Sung’s goal has given defending champions Manchester United a 1-0 lead against Chelsea at half time in their Premiership clash at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side are as such, threatening to put an end to Chelsea’s home unbeaten run in the league, which is a record 84 games, and lasting four years, seven months and two days.

Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Chelsea suffered an injury blow in the pre-match warm-up when Portuguese midfielder Deco picked a thigh strain, as such Germany captain Michael Ballack came into the starting line-up.

United, who had Cristiano Ronaldo on bench and Dimitar Berbatov in the starting XI, began with a good tempo and seized the control of the game from the word go.

England midfielder Owen Hargreaves lined up on the right side, and made instant impact. His cross saw Darren Fletcher, from a good position, have the first sight of the goal, but the first-time volley was off-target, much due to timely tackle by Ricardo Carvalho.

It was all United for most part of the first half, as the home side surprisingly failed to make much of an impact.

United came close to opening their account when Wayne Rooney tried to catch Petr Cech out of position, but the lob just bounced besides the goalpost and went out of play.

In a rare chance for the Blues in the first 20 minutes, Joe Cole, having a suspected handball in a build-up but flag staying down, failed to keep his shot on target even as Van der Sar failed to get into any sort of position to make a save.

Chelsea had another injury blow as defender Carvalho (knee) went out with Alex coming in as a replacement.

Cech saved his side from falling behind when an adventurous piece of play by Rio Ferdinand saw him continue the run, and Rooney spotting his team-mate in space, crossed the ball to the centre-back. But Ferdinand’s angular shot from right side of the area, struck Cech and went out of play.

Soon after, Park put the Red Devils ahead after Patrice Evra cut back the ball for Berbatov, whose low shot was half-stopped by Cech only to see the South Korean tap the rebound home in 18th minute.

United keeper Edwin van der Sar suffered a leg injury, and he was replaced by Kuszczak in the 33rd minute.

Blues showed the first sign of trying to impose themselves on the proceedings at the half hour mark, but failed to come up with a clear chance. Frank Lampard and Ballack desperately looked to find the equaliser, but their long-range shots did not pose any trouble for the rival keeper, while Alex's strike was spilled by Kuszczak but no damage was done.

Teams:

Chelsea: Cech, Terry, A Cole, Boswinga, Carvalho (Alex 13), Mikel, J Cole, Ballack, Lampard, Malouda, Anelka.

Chelsea Substitutes not used: Cudicini, Drogba, Bridge, Kalou, Belletti, Ferreira.

Manchester United: van der Saar (Kuszczak 33), Ferdinand, Neville, Evans, Evra, Fletcher, Hargreaves, Scholes, Park, Berbatov, Rooney.

Manchester United Substitutes not used:, Brown, Ronaldo, Giggs, Nani, O’Shea, Tevez.