Source: DSG
Chelsea's dismissal of Man United signals ends of title charge for Moyes' men
Samuel Eto’o‘s first hat-trick in Chelsea colours saw United’s title defence surely ended early. A title now for David Moyes and Manchester United is certainly out of the picture, as they trail league leaders Arsenal by 14 points, and are trailing 4th placed Liverpool by 6 points. The easy way Chelsea strolled into a 3-0 lead will surely be worry for Moyes, who has only beaten one of the six teams above Manchester United this season, and with the returns of Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie not imminent, the Scot will be desperately trying to find a way to give the Red Devils some teeth up front. Rooney and Van Persie have not played together since the 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in mid-December. The talismanic duo’s injury problems has seen Danny Welbeck leapfrog to the top of the pile, who has now scored 8 goals in the league in 15 appearances, but United’s problems are still of a massive scale. With the transfer window closing in 11 days, it has been reported that the Red Devils would be proactive in the market in order to bolster their league ambitions. Reported targets have included Juan Mata, Ross Barkley and İlkay Gündoğan, but David Moyes has been reluctant to dive into the market, stating he has more than enough quality at Old Trafford. "We would like to bring people in but are those players available?" he added. "There is an urgency but there's no point in me hyping it up because the players we would like to bring in are probably not available in January." United only managed to bring in one player in the summer in the form of the Belgian international Marouane Fellaini from Everton for £27.5 million. The deal has only had limited success however, starting only 4 games in 8 appearances for champions. The manner of their defeats to other champion’s league hopefuls Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool will concern Moyes, who facing another test in the second leg Capital One Cup tie against Sunderland. United trail the leg 2-1, with a Ryan Giggs own goal and a Fabio Borini penalty cancelling out Nemanja Vidic’s towering second half header. In previous years, the smart money would be on David Moyes’ men to advance to the final, but they have an appalling home record by their own standards, having lost at Old Trafford 4 times in Premier League and once in the FA Cup, and without their star men playing and firing, Moyes will only find tonight’s game hard, but also the rest of the season.