Live Commentary: Manchester United 0-0 Chelsea - as it happened

The first heavyweight clash of the Premier League season took place this evening as Chelsea travelled to Manchester United.

Much was expected but the two title challengers failed to deliver as a goalless game of few chances was played out.

Read how it all happened in our minute-by-minute updates below.

9.58pmThanks for joining Sports Mole for coverage tonight. Make sure you stick around for reaction and analysis from Old Trafford. Good night.

9.55pmRead Barney Corkhill's full-time summary here. A point takes Chelsea clear at the top of the table but they have played a game more than those around them. Spurs and Liverpool are the only sides with 100% records with two wins from two. Click here to see the latest table.

9.52pmA really disappointing match in the end. It nowhere near lived up to the billing with not a single decent chance over the 90 minutes.

90+5 minFULL-TIME: United 0-0 Chelsea

90+4 minCleared by Chelsea.

90+3 minCHELSEA SUB: Before it's taken, Hazard is taken off for Cesar Azpilicueta.

90+3 minLate corner for United...

90+1 minWe're now into the THREE minutes of added time at Old Trafford.

88 minUnited scream for a penalty as Van Persie's acrobatic right-foot volley smacks into the side of Mikel. Atkinson rightly says no before Evra volleys the loose ball a few yards wide.

87 minCHELSEA SUB: Mikel takes the place of Schurrle as the visitors look to whittle away the clock.

86 minSchurrle looks to thread in Oscar but his pass is slightly overhit and Ferdinand shepherds it back to the keeper.

84 minIt looks as if John Obi Mikel is about to come on and that's an even clearer indication that Mourinho is happy with a point.

80 minBOOKING! Torres is shown a yellow card for interfering with Cleverley's free kick.

78 minUNITED SUB: Welbeck mistimes his header from the corner and is taken off moments later for Ryan Giggs, appearing against Chelsea for the 50th time in his career. Incredible.

77 minPUSHED WIDE! Rooney fizzes a rising drive towards the corner that Cech, quite comfortably, pushes out for a corner.

75 minLampard manages to squeeze a pass through for Ramires who is wonderfully tracked and then tackled by Rooney. The challenge causes the loudest cheer of the night.

74 minIMAGE! Here's that banner the Stretford End have put up in support of Moyes:

73 minYoung's first cross is excellently defended by Terry but his header goes straight back to Young. The winger's second centre is another good'un that Cech punches clear low down.

72 minPENALTY SHOUT! Chelsea want a penalty as Cole appears to trip over Jones. Atkinson shakes his head and replays show that the England left-back seemed to fall without contact.

70 minOscar's first touch, for once, lets him down and Carrick hacks clear. Just 20 minutes left in this one. Both teams look content with a point at the moment.

66 minMoments before that substitution Oscar almost had a chance when he peeled off Ferdinand but couldn't quite reach Hazard's centre.

66 minUNITED SUB: Valencia has been tireless tonight but his night is over as Ashley Young comes on.

63 minTorres with a sharp turn of pace to escape United's midfield and he just has Vidic in front of him. The Spaniard messes it up with one step-over too many.

62 min"HANDBALL!" scream the Stretford End as Cleverley's volley smacks into Lampard. Atkinson waves his hands to gesture 'no' and that's the right call as the Chelsea number eight was only about a yard away.

60 minCHELSEA SUB: It is De Bruyne who makes way for Torres and that will mean that Schurrle will come out to the right.

59 minSHOT! Schurrle comes inside and has his shot blocked. The loose ball falls to Cahill, who has excellent technique for a centre-back, and his effort is well struck but equally well held by De Gea.

57 minFernando Torres is about to come on for Chelsea. I'd say De Bruyne or Schurrle to exit.

56 minCHANCE! Evra hassles De Bruyne and wins it back for the home side before prodding to Rooney. The Englishman could shoot but waits and waits before playing in Welbeck who doesn't get his feet sorted and fluffs the shot.

55 minWelbeck goes for goal instead of picking out a teammate and gets it horribly wrong.

51 minHazard is given a bit of room about 30 yards out so has a speculative try that's well hit but straight at De Gea, who makes a third easy save of the night.

50 minEvra bursts into space in front of the area and looks for the run of Welbeck. The England striker looks to flick it back for the left-back but his return is cut out.

49 minLittle to speak of at the start of the second 45 as the match continues in much the same vein as the first. Hazard just went down near the edge of the United area but Atkinson thought that Valencia got the ball.

46 minKICKOFF! Van Persie and Rooney get the second 45 underway.

9.02pmHere come the two sides back out for the second half. No changes from Moyes or Mourinho.

9pmIt's interesting to see that Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is watching tonight's match sat next to Everton manager Roberto Martinez.

8.58pmWhat must Moyes and Mourinho be saying to their boys in the dressing room? The game certainly needs to liven up!

8.55pmThe hosts also have a superior pass success - 87% to Chelsea's 81% - and aerial success, winning 61% of headers.

8.53pmI'm actually quite surprised to read that United have had 57% of the ball. It's felt much nearer to 50-50.

8.49pmWhat to say? Oscar has had a couple of shots as Chelsea looked assured in midfield. Rooney has been United's most lively player but neither he or Van Persie have worked Cech yet. That's about it really.

45+1 minHALF-TIME: United 0-0 Chelsea

45+1 minAs Ramires's overhit cross goes harmlessly out of play one minute is added on at the end of the first half. Sums it up, really.

44 minSHOT! Again it's Oscar who gets a shot away as Jones's tackle falls to the Brazilian but he can't get it either side of De Gea.

40 minIt's pretty amazing that De Bruyne hasn't been asked to clean himself up yet. When he challenged Van Persie and got booked he took a forearm to the face and has a trail of blood running down his chin.

38 minPatient buildup from the hosts comes to an end when a half-clearance from Chelsea is fired over the bar by the left boot of Cleverley.

37 minIMAGE! Here's Moyes strolling out to a warm welcome before the match:

36 minJournalist Henry Winter sums up the match so far quite nicely: "Average game so far. Chants better. After Rooney shot, #cfc fans sing "sign him up". #mufc fans sing 'Jose Mourinho, you wanted this job'."

35 minOscar is dropping very deep, even behind Ramires and Lampard, as he looks to run the show for the visitors.

32 minBOOKING! De Bruyne is the first man to be shown yellow for bringing down Van Persie. That was nowhere near as bad as Valencia's tackle a moment ago.

30 minAtkinson clearly is feeling lenient tonight as he lets Valencia off for a slicing challenge on Oscar, who beat him to a loose ball.

29 minExcellent first touch from Rooney from Cleverley's sharp pass. It's crowded in front of him on the edge of the box but he still manages to squeeze a shot through that's not powerful enough to trouble Cech.

26 minIt's good to see both managers right on the edge of their technical areas as Ramires overruns the ball for a throw-in. Both must know the importance of the first goal here.

24 minVan Persie peels away from Terry to meet Evra's cross. It's a little too high for him though and he can't keep his header down.

23 minSHOT! Carrick steals the ball and Van Persie has it on the edge of the area. He takes it wide onto his left before fizzing a vicious drive into the side-netting. He wants a corner and replays show that it did indeed brush Ivanovic's boot.

21 minSchurrle certainly has pace about him and whenever Ramires and Lampard pick up the ball they are looking to get the number 14 in behind Ferdinand and Vidic.

20 minVan Persie spins past his man nicely and looks for a one-two with Rooney, but the latter's pass is behind the Dutchman and United are still to have a decent chance.

17 minIvanovic may have scored against Villa on Wednesday but he's not known for his shooting from distance. He shows why with a wild effort from at least 30 yards that sails high and wide.

16 minVan Persie picks out Rooney on the right and the number 10 has plenty of space to drive into. He looks to pick out Welbeck at the back post but his cross is blocked before it can get there.

15 minRash challenge from Cole as Van Persie looked to start a counter. He could have been booked there but Atkinson decides to give him a warning.

13 minHazard and De Bruyne combine well down the left but there's not a single blue shirt for the former to pick out in the box when he had the opportunity to cross.

12 minUnited's first corner is swung over by Van Persie into a good area but there's no red shirt there and Cahill heads out.

11 minHere's that odd hug that Moyes and Mourinho had a little earlier

PHOTO Opposing managers David Moyes and Jose Mourinho greet each other ahead of kick-off at Old Trafford #MUNCHE pic.twitter.com/shwYorxIXo

— Premier League (@premierleague) August 26, 2013

10 minSHOT! First effort of the game comes from Chelsea as Ferdinand doesn't properly clear De Bruyne's cross and Oscar's snap-shot from the edge of the area is well handled by De Gea.

9 minA minute later and Ferdinand also overhits a pass that rolls out of play for a goal kick. Come on lads, give me something to type about!

8 minCarrick's pass to no-one sums up the opening few minutes where more has happened in the stands than on the pitch.

5 min"SIT DOWN MOURINHO," chant the United fans after Chelsea's corner had sung 'Oh, Wayne Rooney, we'll see you next week!'

4 minAs expected, Schurrle is playing as Chelsea's furthest-forward player.

3 minWelbeck gives the ball away to Oscar but tracks the Brazilian down the sideline, atoning for his error well.

1 minValencia has been very buzzy early on and already forced Hazard and Oscar into mistakes. The ball hasn't left the middle third of the field yet.

0 minKICKOFF! Oscar and Schurrle get us underway.

8pmJust before kickoff, we have a minute's applause to honour the lives of Jack Crompton, Brian Greenhoff and Ron Davies.

7.59pmMourinho is waiting for Moyes and embraces the new United manager with a weird hug thing.

7.57pmSam Wallace on Twitter: "Mourinho put his arm around Giggs and shakes his hand. Mourinho wearing a v-neck jumper under jacket today. Tactical error. It's warm."

7.56pmMoyes strides out a minute later and gets a huge round of applause from the Stretford End where there is a banner of his face and 'The Chosen One'.

7.55pmHere come the two sides out of the tunnel, uniquely in the corner at Old Trafford. Both sides are in their home colours with United red and Chelsea blue.

7.54pm@InfostradaLive on Twitter: "Andre Schurrle makes his first PL start for #CFC. He NEVER LOST a league game when he scored for previous club Bayer Leverkusen (W10-D6)."

7.52pmBriefly away from this match, click here to follow live coverage of Real Madrid's La Liga match at Granada.

7.50pmPREDICTION TIME! Just 10 minutes until we get underway at Old Trafford and I'm going to plump for a 1-1 draw. I'm not expecting a goalfest with a single goal settling it if either side takes home all three points.

7.48pmMore from Mourinho here.

7.45pmAs always with the big games, we've been building up to it with plenty of stuff on SM. Click here to see five great Old Trafford matches between these two.

7.42pmH2H: These two met an incredible five times last season, twice in the league, once in the League Cup and then twice in the FA Cup because of a replay. Chelsea won three of those games, United one and there was one draw. See them all by scrolling down on our homepage for the match which can be found here.

7.38pmIndependent journalist Sam Wallace on Twitter: "Hernan Crespo in [Old Trafford] press-box. Still in great nick, looks like he could lead the line at 38. If only #CFC were in need of a centre-forward."

7.36pmAnd here's what Moyes has just said about Rooney: "He's a Manchester United player and he'll prove it tonight."

7.34pmBIG RUMOUR! Italian journalist and Twitter transfer god Tancredi Palmeri has just tweeted this: "Chelsea this evening have presented a new bid for Rooney. Manchester United still have not answered. Seems Chelsea is very confident." I'd say that his inclusion in the starting lineup answers!

7.32pmThe Portuguese coach insists that he has come to win the game today despite leaving out the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Fernando Torres, who has a good record at the Theatre of Dreams. When asked if he was surprised by the selection of Rooney, Mourinho responds: "They have him, why not play him?"

7.30pmMourinho is speaking to Sky Sports News and doesn't want to reveal his exact plans as he is worried that Moyes will be watching!

7.28pmThe imminent arrival of Willian is yet another attack-minded midfielder that Mourinho will have to try to work into his team. What must be going through the mind of Mata? Would he consider leaving?

7.26pmMata's exclusion will only fuel rumours of an exit for the creative Spaniard. The latest rumours suggest that Spurs could be in for him.

7.23pmREFEREE WATCH! The man in charge tonight is Martin Atkinson.

7.19pmIt's pretty amazing that Chelsea are playing six midfielders and Juan Mata isn't one of them. Mourinho is clearly looking to counter with pace tonight and perhaps he felt Mata didn't help him in that respect.

7.16pmSUBS! And here are the two benches tonight:

Chelsea: Schwarzer, Azpilicueta, Essien, Mikel, Mata, Lukaku, Torres
United: Lindegaard, Buttner, Smalling, Giggs, Anderson, Young, Kagawa

7.12pmManchester Evening News journalist Rob Dawson on Twitter: "Chelsea playing with no strikers and United playing with three. False nine playing against a false midfield."

7.08pmWell well well, bold moves from both Moyes and Mourinho. The inclusion of Rooney shows that Moyes still believes in the number 10 while Mourinho's lack of a striker has come out of nowhere!

7.07pmCHELSEA XI: Cech; Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Cole; Ramires, Lampard; De Bruyne, Oscar, Hazard, Schurrle

7.06pmUNITED XI: De Gea; Jones, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Carrick, Cleverley; Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck; Van Persie

7.05pmBREAKING TEAM NEWS! Rooney starts! Mourinho has chosen to start without a recognised striker as well.

7.02pmWe're still waiting on news of the teams at Old Trafford. Will Wayne Rooney start against Chelsea, who have openly expressed an interest in the England international?

7pmHello hello! It's the first big showstopper of the new Premier League season. United vs. Chelsea, we can't wait!