Final Showdown at the premier league.

After 370 matches in the Barclay’s Premeir League this season, the title race has gone down to the wire. 10 matches on the final day will decide who gets the Barclays flag and other vital positons for entry into Europe for the next season. Chelsea, currently at 83 points, has the upper hand with a point lead over rivals Manchester United but nothing vould be said till the referee blows the final whistle of the season. Also, there is a slim battle for the third-fourth place with Tottenham Hotspur just 2 points behind Arsenal who are having their worst run in years with 10 games without a point.

Chelsea will be up against Wigan Athletic for the last day. The blues will be going out with their usual squad without any fresh injuries. Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba will be all fired up to lift the trophy in front of the home crowd. For Wigan it will be playing for pride and an attempt to stop the blues to win the match and the title, their Striker Marcelo Moreno is injured due to ankle injuries along with other Wiganers. 

Defending champions  Manchester United will be hosting Stoke City at Old Trafford for the final match of the season. The pressure is double on the red devils, first one being of winning and second hoping the nearly impossibe task of Chelsea either loosing or drawing againts Wigan. For Man United veteran defender Gary Neville is injured and Rio Ferdinand is not finding the touch. High hopes are on Wayne Rooney and Berbatov to fire while hoping that Chelsea don’t fire.

The best part of tomorrow is that all the match will be starting at 1600 hours GMT (2030 Hours IST) so there will be pre-match or post match tensions. The matches are:

Arsenal Vs Fulham

Aston Villa Vs Blackburn Rovers

Bolton Wanderers Vs Birmingham City

Burnley Vs Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea Vs Wigan Athletic

Everton Vs Portsmouth

Hull City  Vs Liverpool

Manchester United Vs Stoke City

West Ham United  Vs Manchester City

Wolverhampton Wanderers Vs Sunderland

Manchester United host Spurs in the crucial league stage.

After some great round of football last weekend when Chelsea lost and United won the league it back with the utmost excitement. All the twenty teams will be in action. Starting the play with an early kick off on Saturday is Tottenham Hotspur, who defeated Chelsea and previously defeated Arsenal also, will be on the way to Old Trafford to play against defending Champions Manchester United while leaders Chelsea will be hoping to cruise past Stoke City at home and sit at a comfortable position with their lead on Sunday.

The match at Old Trafford is important for both teams. Manchester United are desperate to get back at the top and retain the title while Tottenham on the other side would be hoping to cement their fourth place while takes them to the champions league qualification round. News from the locker room is that Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown may be back in the starting line up for the red devils while Wayne Rooney is still short of full fitness to start. Sir Alex will be banking on the experiece of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes to break the deadlock. For Spurs Jonathan Woodgate is out injured with a groin trouble while Jermaine Jenas is doubtful to play at OT. The table will be changed… lets see what happens.

The match timings of the weekend matches are:

Saturday

Manchester United Vs Tottenham Hotspur 1245 Hours GMT

Bolton Wanderers Vs Portsmouth 1500 Hours GMT

Hull City Vs Sunderland 1500 Hours GMT

West Ham United Vs Wigan 1500 Hours GMT

Wolves Vs Blackburn Rovers 1500 Hours GMT

Arsenal Vs Manchester City 1700 Hours GMT

Sunday

Aston Villa Vs Birmingham City 1200 Hours GMT

Burnley Vs Liverpool 1500 Hours GMT

Everton Vs Fulham 1500 Hours GMT

Chelsea Vs Stoke City 1600 Hours GMT

Chelsea’s step forward to the premiership title.

Chelsea are back at the top of the premiership table after a controversial goal by Chelsea‘s striker Didier Drogba took the blues to a narrow victory by 2-1 over Manchester United at Old Trafford in an early kick-off on Saturday. This has put a serious dent for the champions United to retain the league trophy. In other matches, Arsenal edged past Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 with a 90th minute goal by Nickalas Bendtner while relegation threatened Portsmouth held Blackburn Rovers to a goal less draw at Fratton Park. 

Pre-match Manchester United knew that this one is not going to be a cake walk specially with Rooney‘s absence. Chelsea broke the dead lock in the 19th minute when Florent Malouda skipped past United defenders in style,and fired a low shot into the box where Joe Cole, who was closely held, backheeled the ball brilliantly through the legs of Evra and into the far corner. 

 

In the second Chelsea‘s lead was doubled but with a huge controversy, Just in as a substitute, Didier Drogba was clearly in offside position but the linesman was too aware to see that and as a result the play carried on, with United players protesting, and Drogba lashed into the roof of the net. the small section of Chelsea fans which came all the way from London were in peak joy. But just 2 minute later United got one back when Nani‘s ran in from the left and his low cross bounced off Cech onto Macheda‘s chest and into the net but it was looking too late. The “comeback kings” as Manchester United is known as tried their best to come level closest being Dimitar Berbatov‘s shot in the injury time which went straight into the hands of the Cech. Thus, the final Score Chelsea 2-1 Man United.

Manchester United’s four retains top position after Chelsea’s struck seven.

Manchester United completed the double over Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok with an emphatic 4-0 win in the late kick-off on Saturday but not before Chelseastruck with a spectacular seven over Aston Villa at home. Meanwhile third placedArsenal’s title challenge suffered a major halt when an injury time goal by Kevin Phllips made the gunners lead go in vain and eventually they had to settle for a draw.

 

Manchester United got the lead in a pretty unusual fashion when in the crowded penalty area after Jloyd Samuelgot the ball and side footed into his own net in the 38th minute. The teams went into the break with 1-0 in home side’s favour.

Second half was truly Man United’s with three goals in it. Dimitar Berbatov got his first when a deflected ball by the goal keeper landed in his foot who simply tapped it behind the net. He got his second in the 78th minute when Nani teased Bolton defenders with some lovely footwork on
the left flank and pulled the ball back for Berbatov to complete. Finally things were wrapped up by Darron Gibson8 minutes from time when he came in as a substitute.

 

Chelsea gave a strong signals to the leaders after they thrashed Aston Villa with 7-1 scoreline. Frank Lampardnetted 4 times for the blues and Florent Malouda scored twice and one for Kalou in the win. Needless to say… but Villa equalised at 1-1 when Carew tapped a cross over the line at the far post but that was it for the visiting side.

Arsenalsuffered a major setback against Birmingham City after Samir Nasri’s 82nd minute lead was cancelled byKevin Phillips in the injury time of the match.

Other results were:

Hull City 2-0 Fulham

Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Portsmouth

West Ham United 0-1 Stoke City

Wolves 0-0 Everton

Arsenal face the champions Barcelona, United-Bayern re-run in the champions league quarter finals.

 

After some exciting action and some huge upsets the champions league now steps into the last-8 stage featuring some of the best team in Europe. The fixtures for the much awaited quarter finals were finally declared in Nyon, Switzerland. 1999 champions Manchester United have been put up against that year’s runners up Bayern Munich. Some old memories will definitely come in mind and Bayern will be hoping not to have a repeat of that night.

Another thing to note in the quarters is that the presence of two French clubs, FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Olympique Lyonnais. Although they have been scheduled to play each other but this as shown the increasing dominance of French clubs. Lyon everyone knows had pulled a cracked after getting past Real Madrid to reach here.

The other English powerhouse Arsenal will be hosting defending champions Barcelona in the match to watch. Wenger is confident to take this one away but playing in Nou Camp is a different experience altogether.

CSKA Moscow will be celebrating their first ever entry to this level and the first Russian club in 17 years to reach this stage but they are up against Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan who comfortable defeated Chelsea to enter the last-8.

 The complete quarter finals fixture list:

All matches to start at 2045 Hours GMT.

First Leg

 30^th March 2010

Olympique Lyonnais Vs FC Girondins de Bordeaux           Venue: Stade de Gerland, Lyon 

Bayern Munich Vs Manchester United             Venue: Fußball Arena München, Munich

31^st March 2010

Barcelona Vs Arsenal      Venue: Emirates Stadium, London

CSKA Moscow Vs Inter Milan  Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan

Second Leg

6^th April 2010

Barcelona Vs Arsenal      Venue:  Nou Camp, Barcelona

CSKA Moscow Vs Inter Milan      Venue: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

7^th April 2010

Olympique Lyonnais Vs FC Girondins de Bordeaux           Venue: Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux

Bayern Munich Vs Manchester United      Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester

Rooney, Park makes way for Manchester United to the table top.

Manchester Unitedretained the table top position after winning with a narrow 2-1 score line over Liverpool at Old Trafford while their title rivals Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood park. With a game in hand, the blues are 4 point behind Manchester United who will be point clear at the top even ifChelsea wins their next match.

 

On Saturday, Arsenal comfortably beat West Ham United by 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium but not before Thomas Vermaelen was red carded and Gunners goalkeeper Manuel Almunia saved a penalty in the first half. Arsenal’s manager Sir Arsene Wenger was reported to be furious over the incident as the contact was minimum but the referee had no hesitation in sending him off.

At Old Trafford it was Liverpool who went ahead by a Fernando Torres header in the 5th minute of the match but the joy was short lived for the visitors as Wayne Rooney cancelled the reds lead in the 11th minute whenValencia ran into the box and was fouled by Mascherano inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot.Rooney’s penalty kick was saved by Reina but the rebound went past the net to level the things out. The teams went into the break with a 1-1 score line.

 

In the second half, Manchester United got the much awaited lead just a minute before the hour mark whenRooney passed the ball to Darren Fletcher who gave a wonderful cross and Park Ji Sung ran past the Liverpooldefenders to head home the winner much to the delight of the home crowd. The final score remained 2-1 to putUnited on the top of the table.

Now all eyes will be on Tuesday when Chelsea will be playing bottom players Portsmouth, any obstacles for theblues here can make them pay for the title this year too…

Other results of the weekend football were:

Saturday:

Aston Villa 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Everton 2-0 Bolton Wanderers

Portsmouth 3-2 Hull City

Stoke City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Sunderland 3-1 Birmingham City

Wigan Athletic 1-0 Burnley

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham United

Sunday:

Fulham 1-2 Manchester City

Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Chelsea

Giggs returns in time for the big match against Liverpool

After Manchester United and Liverpool’s thumping victory in thechampions league and Europa cup respectively, both of them will be meeting this Sunday in crucial match in the English Premier League for an all important tie which will be making a deep impact in the route for the rest of the season. Second placed Chelsea, with a match in hand will be visiting Ewood park to play against mighty Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

 

Ryan Giggs will be returning for Manchester United in this match after fully recovering from his wrist injury will be suffered in the league cup final on 28th
February. His return comes in no better time specially when the math is against
the former title rivals who are struggling this year to stay in the top four. Michael
Owen, Wes Brown are recovering from their injuries but still are distant from
their start but Jonny Evans, Rafael will be in contention for their return in the
squad.

 

From Liverpool’s camp, defender Fabio Aurelio is hopeful that he will recover from his thigh strain in time, but Martin Skrtel is still out with a toe injury and Alberto Aquilani is uncertain
after fall ill fro the Europa cup match. Manchester United will be aware of the
Gerrard–Torres movement in the field as both of them would have been the
driving forece in their win recently. While reds on the other hand will be
hoping to stop Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov up front. 90 minutes will be
crucial for both and lets see what happening after the match but i bet nothing
is going to be the same for any of them after the match.

Match timings are:

Saturday:

Aston Villa vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 12:45 Hours GMT 
Everton vs Bolton Wanderers 15:00 Hours GMT
Portsmouth vs Hull City 15:00 Hours GMT
Stoke City vs Tottenham Hotspur 15:00 Hours GMT
Sunderland vs Birmingham City 15:00 Hours GMT
Wigan Athletic vs Burnley 15:00 Hours GMT
Arsenal vs West Ham United 17:30 Hours GMT

Sunday:

Manchester United vs Liverpool 13:30 Hours GMT
Fulham vs Manchester City 15:00 Hours GMT
Blackburn Rovers vs Chelsea 16:00 Hours GMT

Monday:

West Ham United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 20:00 Hours GMT

Chelsea’s £100 million plan for summer after champions league defeat.

Things are not going right at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea’s loss to Inter Milan in the Champions league last week. Many English dailies has reported that the club’s boss Roman Abramovich has plans to spend around £100 million($150 million) this summer to revamp the squad. He was reported to be unhappy after the blues exit from Europe and has pointed out key problems with the manager Carlo Ancelotti and the staff.

 

The first on the list of summer plan is Liverpool’s striker Fernando Torres who has been the top scorer at Anfield, while his injury has kept him out for most of the season, his form in the World Cup will be closely watched. 

 

Next in line is the Bayern Munich’s star midfielder Franck Ribery and Atletico Madrid’s striker Sergio Agüero. Things may not be easy to get both of them to Stamford Bridge as in the case of Ribery many clubs likeManchester United, Arsenal etc are following him and the big news is that his present employers Bayern has confirmed that they will not be extending his contract after the end of the season and review will only be done after the World Cup.

 

For Sergio Agüero, Real Madrid have him in sight for next year signing as part of there new signing for summer as they are also eager to get back after the Champions league debacle. Here also Real is not the only club to grab him as Manchester United and Chelsea are already in the queue for him. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has expressed his long term interest in the Argentine.

With the blues’ management’s above desires, current Chelsea players like Ricardo Carvalho, Deco, Paulo Ferreiraand Juliano Belletti may be put under the axe by Ancelotti to raise the bank balance and make way for “better” players for the next season.

Rooney’s goal machine continues against Fulham.

Manchester United went back to the top of the table with their 3-0 over Fulham on Sunday but not before Chelsea went ahead a day before with their thumping 4-1 win over West Ham United a day before.  Chelsea are two points behind the current leaders United and the only edge they have right now is a game in hand. In another match Arsenal carried their winning form by defeating Hull City by 2-1 as they also went joint second with the result. 

 

Manchester United was prepared to face a strong Fulham side as the visitors had thrashed them 3-0 in the previous meeting. With no Giggs and Owen in the side and Scholes rested,  Sir Alex had to put some extra effort. The first half went in vain for both the teams as none could capitalise the smaller advantages in the proceedings, Berbatov header came close to scoring in the first half . Second half started with a cracker with Wayne Rooney scoring his first of the match in 30 seconds from the start. Berbatov flicked a neat header on for Rooney, who slipped a pass left to Nani. Nani then placed a perfect pass to Rooney who netted it without any difficulty. Rooney again scored to double the United’s lead in the 82nd minute  when Berbatov got the ball and after controlling, dribbling it gave the ball to Rooney to finish it. Things were finally wrapped up by Dimitar Berbatov who made it 3-0 in the 87th minute. The score line stayed till the final whistle. 

 

Chelsea was held to a 1-1 score line till half time when Scott Parker countered blues’ lead through Alex Rodrigo in the 15th minute. But there was no stopping them in the second half where they scored three more goals through Didier Drogba and Malouda to make the things clear for Chelsea. 

 Other results are:

 Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Blackburn Rovers 

 Birmingham City 2-2 Everton 

 Bolton Wanderers 4-0 Wigan Athletic 

 Burnley 1-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 

 Stoke City 0-0 Aston Villa    

Image 1 source: manutd.com

Image 2 source: chelseafc.com

Manchester United eyes champions league quarters but Real has a task to perform.

After going top of the premier league, Manchester United will hoping to make it to the next round of the UEFA Champions Leaguewhen they will be facing Italian giants A C Milan for the return leg at Old Trafford. In the first leg United beat the home side 3-1 to take the crucial lead. In the other match of the day, Real Madrid will be hosting Olympique Lyonnais for their return leg and this time around Real needs to get early into the game to prove that the 0-1shock defeat in the first leg was just luck for the French side.

 

Manchester United has not always got the better over the Italians as when they met last time around they were routed 0-3 at San Siro after winning 3-2 at home in the semi finals of 2007. But as the proceedings have gone Manchester United are looking all fired up for the night. The defence seems to be getting better and better with Rio-Vidic standing like a wall and Nani, Valencia in good form in the mid field. Paul Scholes will be all fired up
after his scoring century of goals in the league in the last match.

The big talking point at OT is home coming of former United captain David Beckham who is on loan to Milan. His time at United was full of news which included wrong reasons and private life and problems with Sir Alex. So the kind of reception he receives will be worth seeing.

 

In the other match at Santaigo Bernebue, Real Madrid will be determined to get past Lyonwith the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Raul & Co. According to Portuguese winger statement on the official website he said “We need
to go out there to win and must begin the match thinking that we are going to score. Lyon didn’t concede any goals against us, but I hope Wednesday is a different story. We know it’s hard, but it is possible. We will do everything we can from the very first to very last minute.” 
Both the matches will be starting at 2045 Hours GMT on 10^thMarch.