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Premier League, Loftus Road - Queens Park Rangers 0 Chelsea 0.

QPR and Chelsea played out a 0-0 stalemate at Loftus Road after Anton Ferdinand snubbed John Terry and Ashley Cole pre-match.

Chelsea's 100 per cent league record came to an end at the home of their West London rivals, where Ferdinand, Terry and Cole took centre-stage following last season's race allegations which culminated in a not guilty verdict for Terry in July.

QPR debutant Julio Cesar impressed in goal with a string of solid saves while Bobby Zamora had an effort cleared off the line in the second half after a horror back pass attempt by John Obi Mikel.

But a heated affair did not ultimately produce any goals and Roberto Di Matteo's side remain top of the league on 10 points despite victories for Manchester United and Arsenal elsewhere.

The Hoops, meanwhile, remain near the foot of the table, still without their first league win.

Before a ball had been kicked, the match was making headlines when Ferdinand opted not to shake the hands of either Terry or Cole during the pre-match ritual, which had been abandoned altogether the previous season when the clubs last met.

Words were had between centre-backs Terry and Ferdinand before the hostilities transitioned into the alleged centrepiece of the afternoon – the actual football match – in a tense and scrappy opening period.

Ramires and Ryan Bertrand both picked up first-half bookings as Rangers – managed by ex-Chelsea man Mark Hughes, settled into the game the quickest.

The lion’s share of the decent chances came the way of the European champions, however, with Cesar forced to make a pair of excellent blocks to deny first Eden Hazard and then Fernando Torres.

Fabio had a penalty claim waved away by referee Andre Marriner when he collided with David Luiz on the left-hand edge of the Chelsea box, before Hazard went down in the opposite area under pressure from Shaun Wright-Phillips, only to receive the same response.

The hosts lost two players early on to injury as Fabio and Andrew Johnson each pulled up with little over half an hour played, restricting their control of the tempo with the departure of two of their most creative players in the early stages.

A hotly-contested opening 10 minutes of the second half had little in the way of serious chances until home captain Park Ji-sung headed a delicious cross from Esteban Granero into the arms of Petr Cech.

Minutes later, a mistake from substitute Nedum Onuoha let Hazard in but his deft flick to put Torres in with a chance at goal was poorly controlled by the Spaniard.

With 13 minutes to go, that error was topped in a big way by Mikel when his back pass was underscored and Zamora pounced, only to blink first in the stand-off in front of goal with Cech, allowing the Czech to do enough to delay the striker.

By the time he pulled off a chance at goal, black shirts were back to block its path and a subsequent breakaway led to Victor Moses forcing another decent parry from Cesar in the former Wigan man’s cameo from the bench.

Four minutes from time, Hazard should have won the game for his side only to blast a point-blank opportunity over after Branislav Ivanovic cut inside from the right to find Moses, whose low cross found the Belgian 10 yards from goal with precision.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Julio Cesar (Queens Park Rangers) – Rob Green's autumn went from bad to worse as the former Inter Milan stopper made an impressive home debut for his new employers with a string of saves.

England profited from a goalkeeping howler and a goal-line controversy as they beat Ukraine 1-0 in Donetsk to top Euro 2012 Group D.

Wayne Rooney headed the only goal early in the second half after an error by Andriy Pyatov, but there was huge controversy when John Terry cleared a Marko Devic shot that had crossed the line.

None of the officials, including the additional assistant referee standing just metres from the ball, appeared to see the incident, and an incensed Ukraine side exited the tournament.

England may feel it is payback for the 2010 World Cup, when a Frank Lampard goal against Germany was ruled out, but this latest embarrassment will surely accelerate the introduction of goalline technology.

The result sets up a last-eight encounter against Group C runners-up Italy, while France will face defending champions Spain after losing 2-0 to Sweden.

However, there should be no ignoring a sub-standard England display. Roy Hodgson's men began the match full of optimism, buoyed by a 3-2 win against Sweden, and welcoming the apparently talismanic Rooney back to the fold.

Superb as Rooney may be for Manchester United, he has not made a positive major tournament contribution for England since 2004 - so expectations that he would transform England into free-flowing world-beaters always seemed a touch optimistic.

So it proved, as they produced a first half as stilted and insipid as anything they produced in their disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign.

Despite missing Andriy Shevchenko and Andriy Voronin from the starting XI, Ukraine dominated, showing England up with their movement and ball retention.

Early on, England's centre-backs went walkabout, allowing the excellent Andriy Yarmolenko space inside the box - but the Ukrainian dallied on the ball and his eventual shot was charged down.

Scott Parker then produced a block to deny Devic, who was first to an Artem Milevskiy lay-off.

Next it was John Terry's job to get in the way of a shot as he stopped a Yevhen Konoplyanka, and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk volleyed the follow-up over the bar.

Despite their seemingly chronic inability to locate a team-mate with a simple pass, England did have their moments, with Rooney guilty of a glaring miss.

Terry found Ashley Young on the left, whose inswinging cross found an unmarked Rooney at the back post, but somehow the striker glanced his header wide.

Back came Ukraine with Yarmolenko testing Joe Hart with a low shot that the goalkeeper did well to hold. And Yarmolenko threatened again with a mazy dribble inside the box that left three defenders in his wake, but led away from goal and he was eventually crowded out.

England cannot play like Spain, nor should they try, but their passing statistics were simply embarrassing. Xavi routinely averages 50 passes per half. In the first half, Danny Welbeck completed five, James Milner seven, Young nine and Glen Johnson 10.

Even when they did hold the ball, they showed no likelihood of going anywhere - a succession of square passes brought a few ironic 'Ole's from the crowd, but the absolute lack of movement off the ball meant Ukraine were perfectly safe.

The goal came early in the second half from a right-sided cross by Steven Gerrard. As the ball came through, a defender got a slight touch and Pyatov missed the ball completely, gifting Rooney the simplest header.

Just after the hour mark, Ukraine equalised. Or at least they thought they had. Artem Milevskiy teed up Devic, whose shot was half-saved by Hart.

Terry ran back to clear, but the ball had already crossed the line - however, referee Viktor Kassai waved play on and received help from his assistants.

Lucky as England were, they may point out that Milevskiy was offside in the build-up.

As news came through that France were losing to Sweden, the pressure eased - England could have conceded an equaliser and still topped the group.

However, there was still a hairy moment as Hart parried a swerving Konoplyanka shot and Joleon Lescott showed good awareness to hook the ball away.

It was deeply unpretty stuff, but somehow Hodgson's men continue to deliver. They may need more luck if they are to see off the Italians.