• Stoke centre-half a target for Chinese club
• Chelsea’s Didier Drogba also wanted by Shenhua

Shanghai Shenhua are trying to sign the Stoke City defender Matthew Upson, while talks continue about Didier Drogba joining his former Chelsea strike partner Nicolas Anelka at the Chinese club.

The Shenhua official Ma Yue said on Tuesday that the Chinese Super League side were in talks with the former England defender Upson but declined to give a timeline for the negotiations with the 32-year-old centre-half.

Shenhua have also been strongly linked with the Ivory Coast striker Drogba and Ma again refused to rule out the signing.

Asked about Drogba and Upson joining, Ma said: “There is nothing confirmed. We are still in the midst of discussions.”

Stoke CityChelseaDidier Drogba
guardian.co.uk

The best images from Sunday’s late kick-off at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea and Manchester United drew 3-3

Tom JenkinsJonny Weeks

It was Wayne Rooney, more than anyone else, who rocked Chelsea, as Manchester United stormed back to snatch a point

After an ordinary first half, the game exploded after the catalyst of Chelsea’s third, fortuitous goal. Juan Mata’s great volley, created by his fellow Spaniard Fernando Torres, had lifted Chelsea’s spirits but their team, devoid of core players – Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Didier Drogba – fumbled their way forwards after Sir Alex Ferguson’s changes worked to perfection.

His alterations were aided by André Villas-Boas’s decision to substitute Daniel Sturridge, the one player who could create a pressure point for the home team, teasing Patrice Evra to the first goal and then drawing the Manchester United left-back into committing a yellow-card offence. Without his trickery in wide areas, Torres was even more bereft of support. In truth, Torres’s approach play was better than in recent games but in delaying a golden opportunity to score when Chelsea were 3-2 up he displayed a lack of confidence. Chelsea never got into advanced areas down the left because the left-footed Florent Malouda was too narrow, particularly in the first half. Mata, also a left-footer, played his scheming role more centrally, and the right-footed José Bosingwa was trapped when advancing into the middle third.

Torres did not receive one cross from the left to attack from an advanced position and his goal famine goes on.

It was Wayne Rooney, more than anyone else, who rocked Chelsea as United stormed back. Picking up balls from all areas he needed to be man-marked. His energy is incredible and his desire to be accurate in all he does is admirable. His finding of space is so intelligent and his forward runs, with or without the ball, exemplary.

Michael Essien, understandably lacking energy, might have attempted to sit on him had Ramires been available to play alongside Raul Meireles. They needed someone with enough energy and discipline to nail Rooney.

Paul Scholes, in the centre, was clinical and Ryan Giggs, calm and classy on the left, held sway. The Blues lacked the confidence to keep the ball and gain passages of possession to take the sting out of the game. They got submerged into the ebb and flow, but they desperately needed to hold the game as United threw caution to the wind. Ferguson had a field day. Even David de