ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP/Manchester U 1 Chelsea 2:THESE CLUBS are racing for the title while in retreat. Neither Manchester United nor Chelsea could claim to be quite at their former standard. This is excellent news for the Premier League when it delivers so close a contest. The other challengers, Arsenal, for the sake of variety, have a contrasting sort of handicap since many of their players are still in the development phase. It is because these sides cannot take a firm hold of events that the final weeks of the campaign will be gripping.

Since the league was trimmed to 20 clubs in 1995, no team has claimed the title after losing seven games. United reached that mark at the weekend, but the reigning champions remain viable contenders.

The defeat on Saturday reminded everyone that the fight against time is ultimately futile even for so pugnacious a manager as Alex Ferguson. On this occasion, the veterans were a burden rather than an asset. Ryan Giggs is yet to regain his influence since his comeback from a fractured arm. Paul Scholes floundered and would have had two yellow cards rather than one but for the tolerance of the referee Mike Dean, who, like other officials, seems accustomed to his lunges.

Gary Neville’s suffering indicated that the right-back ought not to be brought back into the England squad if alternative candidates are fit. There was no cause to think about Chelsea’s statistics when there was an absorbing match to watch, but they, too, are in need of some reconstruction.

They have already conceded 30 league goals and that figure had not been reached in an entire campaign since the 2003-04 season, when Claudio Ranieri was still in charge.

Chelsea’s need of rejuvenation is as marked as United’s but the load they were bearing was lighter. After the elimination by Internazionale in the last 16, there are no more Champions League matches to clutter the programme. Ferguson’s men, by contrast, came to this fixture via the 2-1 loss to Bayern Munich in Germany last Tuesday.

The United manager has been masterful in rotating his squad, but did not dare risk peripheral talents against opponents of Chelsea’s calibre.

Eight of the men who started against Bayern were also selected to kick off on Saturday and the total would have been higher still but for the injury to Wayne Rooney. Chelsea made excellent use of the advantage, outplaying United before the interval and then resisting dogged attempts at recovery. They went ahead in the 20th minute when the outstanding Florent Malouda ran inside Gary Neville, held off Darren Fletcher and hit the low cross that Joe Cole converted delightfully with a flick of the heel.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side had plenty of vim and expertise, but their second goal ought to have been ruled offside. In the 69th minute the substitute Didier Drogba was instead allowed to proceed and thrash a drive past Edwin van der Sar at his near post.

Clumsy justice was done when a goal for the United substitute Federico Macheda was then allowed to stand even though his hand helped the ball over the line. Dean and his assistants floundered, but the errors were at least in balance, with each team refused a merited penalty.

Chelsea were superior yet they, too, cannot be complacent. While someone such as Paulo Ferreira, now a third-choice right-back, put on a fine display, Ancelotti has issues to address. Having already been overjoyed at the sight of Malouda turning into a major force, the manager will be greatly assisted if Ashley Cole and Michael Essien return from injury next month. However, the squad still has to be refreshed in other ways. There is no longer a convincing partner in defence for John Terry, while the two main forwards, Nicolas Anelka and Drogba, are in their thirties.

On Saturday such topics were almost entirely irrelevant because United barely presented a threat. It would be simple to deplore the idleness of Dimitar Berbatov, but United were not under the misapprehension that they were buying themselves a warrior when €34.6 million was handed over to Tottenham in 2008. Vision and technique are the traits that placed the Bulgarian in such a price bracket.

He will not take the battle to opponents single-handed, or at least not in the manner of Rooney. Berbatov needed help, but it failed to arrive since neither Park Ji-sung nor Giggs got close enough to establish a link.

The fear now is that the entire side will find itself adrift on Wednesday. United have to overturn that 2-1 deficit against Bayern then and Arsenal, following the 2-2 draw with Barcelona at the Emirates, might well have been eliminated the previous night.

The Premier League is more engrossing than ever now that its leading members must confront their own fallibility.