Chelsea has taken maximum advantage of Wayne Rooney’s injury-enforced absence to move into pole position in the English Premier League title race with a 2-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Goals from Joe Cole and substitute Didier Drogba amounted to a fair reflection of the Londoners’ domination of opponents, who looked distinctly short of inspiration without their 34-goal star striker to surrender top spot with the Blues now holding a two-point cushion with five games to play.

A late effort from substitute Federico Macheda ensured United kept the contest alive to the death and, on another day, United might also have enjoyed a better return from three debatable penalty appeals.

But the champions could scarcely complain about the outcome after failing to create a single clear scoring opportunity in open play before Macheda bundled a cross from fellow substitute Nani over the line with nine minutes left.

Rooney’s absence did not entail a change of shape for United, with Dimitar Berbatov – who once again failed to live up to his status as the most expensive signing in the club’s history – slotting in at the sharp end of an attacking trident made up of Ryan Giggs and Antonio Valencia.

Ancelotti’s pre-match suggestion that Drogba was too important to be left out proved to be a smokescreen as the Italian opted for the same line-up that started last weekend’s 7-1 demolition of Aston Villa.

“We wanted to be top after this match. It was hard but we played really well,” Ancelotti said.

“Now we are the favourites. That’s normal when we are back at the top of the league, but nothing is decided.”

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said: “Five games left, they’re two points ahead and four goals better than us – they’re in the driving seat.

“Chelsea are favourites, there’s no question. I’m certain we’ll respond but we could win the next five games and not win the title.”

Chelsea took the lead in the 20th minute when Cole cleverly back-flicked Florent Malouda’s cross past Edwin van der Sar from close-range.

Drogba came off the bench to increase Chelsea’s lead in controversial circumstances in the 79th minute when the Ivory Coast striker slammed home Salomon Kalou’s pass even though replays showed he was offside.

United got one back two minutes later as Macheda deflected the ball past Petr Cech despite Chelsea appeals for handball.

“At Old Trafford, we always think we can rescue it, unfortunately not today,” Ferguson added, before turning his attentions to the match officials.

“On the Drogba goal, the linesman was directly in front of him, there was not a soul near him and he gets it wrong.

“In a game of that magnitude, to get that wrong, it’s very poor.”

Arsenal still in the hunt

Arsenal closed the gap on the leaders to three points as Nicklas Bendtner’s late goal clinched a 1-0 win over 10-man Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.

After a dour first half, Wolves captain Karl Henry was shown a straight red card in the 65th minute for a lunge on Tomas Rosicky.

That proved the turning point as Bendtner headed the winner in stoppage time from Bacary Sagna’s cross.

“It keeps us in the title race,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose team’s next mission is this week’s Champions League quarter-final return at Barcelona.

“First it was important to forget next week’s match against Barcelona for 24 hours and focus on Wolves and that was not easy. But we did it well – I think we had a good focus.

“We were a bit jaded physically but we kept going and we were serious, we didn’t make a mistake at the back. In the end we got a deserved victory.”

Manchester City stormed into fourth place with a 6-1 demolition of second bottom Burnley at a rain-lashed Turf Moor.

Roberto Mancini’s side scored three times in the first seven minutes through Emmanuel Adebayor, Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tevez.

Then Patrick Vieira scored his first goal for City, Adebayor added his second before the break and Vincent Kompany struck in the 58th minute.

Steven Fletcher scored for Burnley late on but Mancini’s men are now one point ahead of Tottenham in the race for the final Champions league place.

Darren Bent missed two penalties but still made his point to Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp as the Sunderland striker’s double clinched a 3-1 win at the Stadium of Light that dented his old club’s push to finish fourth.

Redknapp once claimed even his wife would have taken a chance missed by Bent during his time at Spurs, but the England international got his revenge as he took just 36 seconds to get on the scoresheet with a close-range finish.

Bent added his second goal in the 29th minute as he converted a penalty and should have had a hat-trick before half-time but saw another penalty saved by Heurelho Gomes.

Incredibly Bent missed from spot again after the break and Peter Crouch reduced the deficit with a 72nd minute header, but Bolo Zenden’s volley clinched the points in the 86th minute.

Aston Villa bounced back from its 7-1 defeat at Chelsea with a 1-0 win at Bolton thanks to Ashley Young’s curling effort in the 11th minute.

Stoke pushed Hull deeper into trouble with a 2-0 win at the Britannia Stadium, Ricardo Fuller and Liam Lawrence scoring the goals.

Ten-man Portsmouth held on for a scoreless draw at home to Blackburn after defender Anthony Van den Borre was sent off in the second half for a second yellow card.