Rooney-less United to prove a point against Chelsea this weekend.

The stage is set for the biggest match of the season. It will be the clash of the titans as champions Manchester United will be hosting rivals Chelsea at Old Trafford as if not everything, allot depends upon the leader of the league after this match. The two have met in the Champions league, FA Cup and all loads of tournament and most of the time the result have always seen one team losing the trophy to other.

 

In other matches, Arsenal will be hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers and would be hoping to get back on track for the title while struggling Liverpool hope to get the fourth place when they face Birmingham City. Fourth placed Tottenham will be visiting the stadium of light to face Sunderland who had put up a decent show this season.

After their champions league defeat in the hands of Bayern, Manchester United will be hoping to have a positive result out of this one. Big blow for the red devils is the injury to Wayne Rooney which he received in the midweek loss.Although it is not a fracture but a ligament tear will also take a minimum of two weeks to heal as a result he may miss the return leg against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford. Other than that Manchester United will going with their usual side with Ryan Giggs, Valencia in the wing and Berbatov up front.

Knowing the intensity, the blues are all fired up to get this one away that to in front of the devils crowd. After their exit from Europe they will be hoping to lead the table after the match. With Drogba fit and Lampard providing the breakthroughs, Carlo Ancelotti’s men has no doubt to get this one.

The match timings are:

Saturday:

Manchester United vs Chelsea 12:45 Hours GMT

Arsenal vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 15:00 Hours GMT 

Bolton Wanderers vs Aston Villa 15:00 Hours GMT
Portsmouth vs Blackburn Rovers 15:00 Hours GMT
Stoke City vs Hull City 15:00 Hours GMT
Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur 15:00 Hours GMT
Burnley vs Manchester City 17:30 Hours GMT

Sunday:
Birmingham City vs Liverpool 15:00 Hours GMT
Fulham vs Wigan Athletic 15:00 Hours GMT
Everton vs West Ham United 16:00 Hours GMT

Beyond Injury worries, Manchester United visits Wolves for table top.

Back from international friendlies, the focus again shifts back to the ever exciting English Premier league where the fight for the title is getting hotter and hotter. This time around the league match will be scattered four days.

First up will be Arsenal hosting Burnley at the Emirates and thegunners have a good chance of going joint top of the Premier league for the first time this season or at least the second till the time Manchester United visit lowly Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. The red devils also have a good chance to go top of the table.

 

Big blow to Manchester United is that Michael Owen will be missing the rest of the season after getting a severe hamstring injury in the final of the carling cup at Wembley stadium on 28^th February. Sir Alex said “It was more serious than we thought and he’ll have an operation on Monday. It’s a terrible blow for the lad and disappointing for us, too. He never missed a training session all season. The heavy pitch at Wembley played some part, but it’s also bad luck.” More problems for United is that Wayne Rooney is also looking
doubtful for the match as he over exerted in the England’s friendly against Egypt. The only god news for now is the confirmation of Rio Ferdinand to start which is going to be a big boost at defence.

 

The matches to be played over the next few days are:

Saturday:

Arsenal Vs Burnley 1500 Hours GMT

West Ham United VS Bolton Wanderers 1500 Hours GMT

Wolverhampton Wanderers VS Manchester United 1730 Hours GMT

Sunday:

Everton Vs Hull City 1600 Hours GMT

Monday:

Wigan Athletic Vs Liverpool 2000 Hours GMT

Monday:

Portsmouth Vs Birmingham City 1945 Hours GMT

Sunderland Vs Bolton Wanderers 1945 Hours GMT

Tuesday:

Burnley Vs Stoke City 1945 Hours GMT

Chelsea looses, United draws, Gunners wins. The table remains the same…

Unable to take advantage of their rivals loss, Manchester Unitedremained at second place with their 1-1 draw against Aston Villa.Chelsea’s fared worse when they
lost against mighty Everton by 1-2, it was former Man United playerLouis Saha
getting the double for Everton. Arsenal finally got into winning ways after
defeating Liverpool with 1-0.

 

 Villa took the lead in the 19^th minute when Stewart Downing’s right-wing
cross was not fully cleared by Rafael as a result the ball dropped to Spanish
defender Carlos Cuellar whose curling header made the ball go into the far
corner. But just 4 minutes later United levelled through an own goal
when Ryan Giggs’ volleyed cross was turned into his own net by Villa defender
James Collins.

Despite the draw what will be concerning Sir Alex will be that their veteran winger Ryan Giggs will be out for at least 4 weeks after fracturing his arm following his clash with Steve Sidwell in the 74^th minute. He is likely to
miss the the champions league match against AC Milan and the crucial Carling
cup final at Wembley on the 28^th of this month.

 At the same time at Goodison Park, the leaders got an early lead in the 17^th minute throughMalouda who scored through his left foot before making his way
upto the goal. But then Saha had come into action, he scored the equaliser in
the 36^th min through a corner and after the break he got the winner
in the 74^th minute when A super left-footed half volley from 18 yards flew beyond
Cech.

Arsenal final got their first win in 2 weeks by beating Liverpool by a narrow margin of 1-0 with Abou Diaby’s goal in the
71th minute. The gunners are comfortable at the last champions league automatic
place which is unlikely to go from them

With only one point difference, the league has become more exciting as ever with the last 12 matches to decide the ultimate winner.

 Mid week results were:

Tuesday:

Manchester City 2-0 Bolton Wanderers

Portsmouth 1-1 Sunderland

Wigan Athletic 1-1 Stoke City

Fulham 3-0 Burnley

Wednesday

 Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool

Aston Villa 1-1 Manchester United

West Ham United 2-0Birmingham City

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Hull City

Everton 2-1Chelsea

Hull for Chelsea, Birmingham hosts Manchester United.

After much of drama in the FA Cup recently the premier league matches are back for the weekend. After being humiliated by second division side Leeds United,Manchester United will be travelling to St. Andrews for the crucial match againstBirmingham City who have been doing well this season under Alex McLeish. LeadersChelsea will also be on an away match against last year’s giant Killers Hull City who aren’t show any sign of staying in the top flight for next season.

Manchester United will be up against a strong Birmingham side who haven’t lost any of its last six match in thepremiership and its manager Alex McLeish has been recently awarded the “manager of the month” for December award. Further there is some more bad news for the red devils is that Nemanja Vidic will not accompany the team as he has been diagnosed with leg nerve problem which has some long term complications. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel there is some good news for United that Paul Scholes is fit to play the Saturday’s match. What seems interesting is that the likes of De Silva brothers will be tested alongside the striking powers of Dimitar Berbatov andWayne Rooney who have been missing from that regular scoring list for Manchester United.
Arsenal will be hosting Everton this Saturday and hoping to get full three points from the fixture and continue their pressure on the leaders in the coming weeks. After Arshavin is back and all set for to silence them, their is little doubt that this fixture will go against them.
Match at Birmingham will be starting at 1730 Hours GMT (2300 Hours IST) on Saturday while Chelsea’s match will be having an early start at 1245 Hours GMT followed by Arsenal’s match at 1500 Hours GMT.
Other matches for the weekend and beyond are:
Saturday
Wigan Athletic Vs Aston Villa

Sunday
West Ham United Vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Monday
Manchester City Vs Blackburn Rovers