A team with a little more confidence than Manchester City could have helped Chelsea take the contest at least as far as their meeting with United on Wednesday.

As it is, Jose Mourinho's side must win at Arsenal this afternoon or concede and settle for attempting to deprive Alex Ferguson of a fourth double in the FA Cup final. Were United to add the Cup to the championship, the pain of another failure in Europe would ease considerably. Unhappy at having to play on a Saturday lunchtime after returning from Italy at 5am on Thursday, they looked weary here.

But City, to attempt the understatement of the season, are not Milan. Indeed, there have been times this year when they have appeared to be playing a different sport altogether. Eastlands these days is not so much a fortress as a house built on sand and when Darius Vassell, like Joey Barton last week, failed from the penalty spot the home team's season sank without a trace, not a single goal scored in front of their achingly loyal supporters since New Year's Day.

Barton, of course, was absent yesterday after assaulting a teammate in training. Ball added to the roll of dishonour by stamping on Cristiano Ronaldo's stomach in the second minute and would have been sent off had Rob Styles not already turned away. Ronaldo extracted revenge with a successful penalty after Ball tripped him just as blatantly later in the first half.

Bringing back Alan Smith at centre forward, United reverted to the formation used in scoring four goals in half an hour at Everton last weekend, but the zest and vim of that performance had evidently been drained from their legs in the San Siro. Rio Ferdinand returned to the injury-prone defence alongside Nemanja Vidic and the pair found City's lonesome striker Emile Mpenza rather less of a handful than Kaka and Filippo Inzaghi. Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick in midfield were also able to play at their own pace after overcoming the initial frustration of finding 10 sky-blue shirts massed in front of them whenever they had possession.

For a long time they resorted to knocking long balls down the middle that Richard Dunne dealt with competently. Set pieces, therefore, provided the only threat and when Vidic and Ferdinand went forward for corners, each ended up heading against the bar. Just after the half-hour, Alan Smith crossed from one side of the penalty box to the other, where Ronaldo performed two quick stepovers and was clearly tripped by Ball. The Portugese stood up to score from the spot, reaching 50 goals for the club, 23 of them this season.

City's hopes lay in adopting a fast tempo, but their brittle confidence did not allow it. The wide players, Vassell and DaMarcus Beasley, sat back in a containing role rather than offering any support to Mpenza, whose two chances were his team's only ones from open play.

Wednesday in Milan was the first time United had conceded three goals this season and there was never any danger of a repeat. On the other hand, City's defence was equally untroubled for the rest of the game. Ryan Giggs was poor and Rooney, his performance at the San Siro described by one Italian newspaper as "a domestic pet, not the lion we saw at Old Trafford" was again a pussycat. Surprisingly, Smith, who should have had the fresher legs, was the man pulled off.

Three City substitutions early in the second half enlivened a crowd hoping for the goal that would have been a triumph in itself after 12 hours without one, and it should have arrived with 10 minutes to play. As Brown pulled out of a tackle, the referee was fooled by Ball's dramatic tumble and offered the home side a penalty. But Vassell hit a nervous kick down the centre of the goal that Van der Sar deflected away.

City will finish a third undistinguished campaign in the last four grateful not to have been sucked closer to the relegation tides. It will be all the worse for them to see their neighbours lording it over all of England once more, with Pearce admitting: "Anyone who wins the title are worthy champions." United, for all their failings last Wednesday, will be worthy winners, Ferguson yesterday hailing the bravery of a tired team.

"With the lack of rest, the players have shown fantastic courage today, " he said. "It wasn't a great performance and you haven't seen the real Manchester United because there was tiredness there.

Hopefully we'll get the result we want tomorrow but if we have to go to Chelsea [for it], we'll look forward to that."