Michael Carrick believes it was about time Manchester United posted a victory at Chelsea's fortress that is Stamford Bridge.
While the headlines might have been all about the controversial decisions that led to United eking out a 3-2 win over Chelsea, what was lost amongst all that was the fact that United are now only one point behind the Blues, despite the near-perfect start of their London rivals, and the perceived slow start of United.
Carrick has been a part of many United defeats and disappointments in the ground in which, prior to Sunday's victory, they had not won for over ten years. So, to come out with all three points, albeit, in rather controversial circumstances, was exactly the fillip United needed to continue their quest of wresting back the English Premier League title.
"It's a huge three points," Carrick told the club's official website. "Not winning here for a long time against our biggest rivals, we wanted to put that right and we wanted to win for that.
"Plus the fact that if we had lost today we would've been well adrift. I know there's a long way to go, but it wouldn't have been a good position for us to be in. So for those two reasons it was a big result.
"Over the last three or four years we've had some really great performances here and not come away with what we deserved, so today it was sweet to get the three points.
"We've really played some great stuff and the performances have been spot on, so to come away with no wins has been disappointing and we felt the next win was close. We have had some decisions not go our way and it's been tough for us here, but maybe that turned around for us today. We'll take what we get."
Following the League Cup assignment against Chelsea on Wednesday, where most of the senior players are likely to be rested, comes another big game at Old Trafford against Arsenal, where Robin Van Persie will play against his old team.
Carrick is under no illusion that nothing but three points will do against the Gunners in a title race that is already looking like going down to the wire, with Manchester City also only one point behind the Blues. "Especially against your rivals -- the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea, Arsenal next week -- it's important you take points off them," he added.
"That's why it was important and next week is just as important. It's a good start to the season. We've obviously had a couple of defeats but we've bounced back and we're still in a good position, so we can be happy."
