Manchester United's Wayne Rooney offers a hand up to Chelsea's Fernanado Torres (R) after he was sent off by referee Mark Clattenburg (unseen) during their English Premier league soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London Oct 28, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

Equally Dramatic

Chelsea and United drew 3-3 at Stamford Bridge last season in the Premier League and the latest chapter in their rivalry proved to be another classic encounter.

United, who meet Chelsea again this week in the League Cup, made a blistering start as they went 2-0 ahead after 12 minutes.

Chelsea were guilty of giving away possession and when Wayne Rooney cut a pass back for Van Persie, the Dutchman's shot cannoned off the bar and ricocheted off Luiz into the net.

The early blow disrupted Chelsea's composure and they fell further behind to a devastating United counter-attack.

Antonio Valencia made ground down the right and his cross was perfect for Van Persie to fire past Petr Cech with Chelsea's defence all at sea.

Chelsea, again playing with Oscar, Eden Hazard and Juan Mata in an attacking formation behind Torres, cleared their heads and a minute before halftime Mata curled an unstoppable free kick past David de Gea to give them hope.

They were level after 53 minutes when Ramires climbed to head in Oscar's dinked cross in a crowded area.

The game seemed to have swung Chelsea's way but Ivanovic was dismissed for an inadvertent trip on Young and a few minutes later Torres tumbled as he raced through but, to his horror, got up to see a red card being waved at him.

Hernandez then rubbed salt into Chelsea's wounds, leaving the home crowd chanting "3-2 to the referee".