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

Injury time winner from Rooney takes United to Wembley.

The two legged game probably has something extra to show and last night was not different from it. The usual habbit of Manchester United that is the injury time goal from Wayne Rooney took the home side for the final date in Wembley with a 3-1 win and the overall aggregate being 4-3. But that didn’t happen before three goals were scored in the match which was pointing at penalties to decide the semi-final hurdle. After that game the holders have a chance to retain their carling cup for this season too.

United got the pre-match boost with Rio Ferdinand allowed to play after he decided to appeal the misconduct against Hull City. Sir Alex went in with the winning squad that played Hull City the previous weekend. That match started with much roar from the old Trafford crowd and the hostility against Carlos Tevez was felt. For the entire half the red devils dominated the possession but were unable to get the break through and on the other side Edwin Van der Sar did his bit to bit to save Bellamy’s diving header. The teams went into the break with 0-0 on the board.

In a dis-respecting moment for the visitors, Craig Bellamy was hit with a bottle in the 50th minute when he was going for the corner which will be probed later by the English FA. United got the break through in the 52nd minute when Giggs passed the ball from the right to Nani in the box who was blocked by three City defenders but not before Carrick crawled the ball to Paul Scholes who scored from his first touch from the edge of the box. Manchester United got their all important second goal in the 72nd minute when Nani gave the ball to already sprinting Fletcherin the box who couldn’t control the ball and gave a back pass to Michael Carrick who shot the ball to the edge of the goal to give Manchester United the overall of 3-2. The celebration came at a halt for United whose fans were already singing victory songs when Tevez pulled on back to level the aggregate score ta 3-3 in the 76th minute when a long bal from Bellamy was neatly headed home by him.

Just when the game was heading for the extra time, the man who scored four in the previous game didn’t stop here by scoring deep into the injury time. It was Ryan Giggs who gave a wonderful cross to Rooney in the box to score the all important goal which took Manchester United just one step away from the Carling Cup.

Reds sign off the year in style.

In what seemed like a practice match, Manchester United demolished Wigan Athleticby 5 goals to retain the second spot before the premier league goes into 2010 giving a nice birthday gift to manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Arsenal also did some similar demolition by defeating Portsmouth 4-1 at Fratton Park. But it was not so easy forLiverpool, only a late strike from Fernando Torres in the injury gave then the much needed victory and some sort of relief to the team.

Goals were raining at Old Trafford with no shelter to the visiting team. Pre match, Park Ji Sung was called in place ofRyan Giggs for the night. Manchester United were into the action as soon as the game started. Having majority of possession, which is always on the cards whether they suffer a defeat too, the first threat came from Nemanja Vidicin the 17th minute with a 25 yard shot on goal but was cleared by Paul Scharner. Manchester United got the first in the 28th minute when Park’s low curling ball from the right got deflected from Rooney’s foot into the left of the goal. The goalkeeper didn’t have the clue what was going on. Just 4 minutes later Michael Carrick doubled United’s lead with a clean strike from the edge of the crowded penalty area. And just before the half time, Rafael De Silvadisplayed brilliant skills to cut three Wigan defenders and score from his left foot. His celebration went till he ran to the dug out to point to his brother. Half time 3-0.

Well it was like United wanted to finish of quiickly, Dimitar Berbatov got the fourth for United in the 50th minute when Valencia’s cross found Dimitar who scored with his right foot. Things were finally wrapped by Antonio Valencia in the 75 minute when Rooney gave a through ball to Valencia who then grabbed the ball and got it past the keeper to finish the proceedings.

So 2009 ends on a high for United who must be hoping to get the treble tag on them in the coming year. And what it looks like now is that the fight is between the current top three for the premiership while Aston Villa will be busy holding for the final champions league spot until some fire ignited in Liverpool and Spurs in ’10.

Red Devils beat tigers in their own territory, Chelsea held again.

Things at the top are getting more and more crunch as the gap on the leaders have been narrowed down to just two points after Chelsea had to settle for a goalless draw against Birmingham City and second place Manchester United won 3-1 against Hull City this Sunday. Things got worse for bottom players Portsmouth who were thrashed with 3 goals by the Hammers at home.
The was a good pre-match boosting for the red devils when Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic came back at defence as a result Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher were back at there trade mark attacking mid field position. Man United’s first chance came in the 5th minute when Valencia’s long ball from the right got Giggs who fired well over the cross bar. After taking majority of possession in the first half, Manchester United got the first goal through Wayne Rooney in the added time of the first half. Fletcher curled the ball inside the Tiger’s penalty area which found Rooney who netted with a close range effort.

Just near the hour mark, Wayne Rooney’s back pass proved costly for United as the ball bounced in the penalty area and Rafael collided with Altidore to give Tigers the vital penalty which was eventually converted by Fagan.Manchester United got its second with a own goal by Dawson netted at his own goal with Rooney’s cross. Things were finally wrapped up by Dimitar Berbatov who got a simple eagle’s eye pass from Rooney in the 82nd minute to wrap up the proceedings.

After many missed chances Chelsea were held 0-0 by Birmingham city at St. Andrews as a result they are just 2 points ahead of United.
Things got worse for bottom team Portsmouth with a 3-0 defeat in the hands of West Ham United at home. With this they are left with 14 points. As the teams go in the mid-team analysis something seriously needs to be done in order to revive in the premiership.
Other results are:
Fulham 0-0 Tottenham
Burnley 1-1 Bolton
Manchester City 2-0 Stoke City
Sunderland 1-1 Everton
Wigan 1-1 Blackburn Rovers
Liverpool 2-0 Wolves

Wolves enter the danger zone of premier league extinction, beaten by Red Devils.

Three goals from Manchester United against Wolverhampton Wanderers had taken them to joint first in the English Premier League. Now all eyes will be on Chelsea’s match on Wednesday. Aston Villa who defeated Manchester United in the previous weekend continued its winning form by winning against Sunderland by 2-0.
Manchester United came out with 4-4-2 formation with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov starting upfront. Wes Brown was out with a last minute hamstring injury,Michael Carrick was pushed into defence as there was no sign of Rio to start. Paul Scholes came back from suspension to strengthen the mid field.
There were many chances created by Wayne Rooney in the initial minutes but none could find the net, the closest being when Gibson’s shot was blocked by Wolvesdefender and then the ball found Rooney whose shot directly found the goal keeper from a close range. Some shaky moments for United came when Greg Halford‘s long throw caused panic in the United’s penalty area, George Friendto close range loop missing the net by a whisker.

Manchester United finally got the goal in the 30th minute when Darron Gibson’s corner ball brushed away by Ronald Zubar’s hand resulting in penalty which was later converted by Wayne Rooney. Second goal for Manchester Unitedcame just before the half time when Vidic headed a bullet into the goal off Gibson’s corner. The red devils went into the half time doubling their lead.

In the Second half, Wolves had its share of chances when Friend’s shot was too wide in the 52nd minute. FinallyManchester United got their third with a superb display of skills. Paul Scholes gave the pass to Dimitar Berbatov on the right who gave an inch perfect pass through a cyclic kick to Valencia who shot the ball to the back of the net with the first touch.

The display was a spectacular it can be. With no attempts, the score remained as it is. Now that United is joint on points at the top, it will be Chelsea under pressure and when it is Portsmouth they need to look in deep.

Hammers Hammered by United. City clips Chelsea’s wings.

In what was a one sided game at Opton park, visiting Man United thrashed West Ham United by 4-0 in the English premier league this Saturday. In the other big match of the evening, Manchester City managed to hold on to a 2-1 lead against Chelsea by saving Frank Lampard’s late penalty giving leaders their first loss in 6 matches. With the result Chelsea are now only two points above Manchester United.

Much was expected from Gianfranco Zola’s side at home against the red devils but in the end it looked like a practice game from Manchester United who went in with their new formation keeping only one striker at the front. The first half saw plenty of chances and finally Manchester United scored their first goal in the stoppage time when a right footed cross found West Ham’s defender who cleared the ball only to find Paul Scholes outside the penalty area who shot the ball like a trace of bullet with his left foot to find the up right corner of the goal.
In the second half, Ryan Giggs was again the play maker when he passed a perfect rolling ball to Gibson who shot a similar ball of that of Paul Scholes from his right foot but from a different angle from the right flank. And just 9 minutes after this Antonio Valencia tripled United’s lead when point to point passing of Wayne Rooney and Giggspassed to Anderson on the left, and the Brazilian’s cross found Antonio Valencia free in the six yard box to convert easily. And finally just 2 minutes after the previous goal, Rooney completed the 4-0 whitewash from a narrow target after combining with Dimitar Berbatov.

In the other big match at the Stadium of Manchester City, Emmanuel Adebayor own goal had put Chelsea in front just seven minutes but the he himself scored the equaliser just before the half time. Carlos Tevez gave the home side the vital lead with a low free kick in the second half which they managed to keep till the end but not beforeDidier Drogba won a penalty for Chelsea which was saved by goal keeper Shay Given when Lampard’s week shot on the right was spotted by him.
So a good day at office for United and with Sir Alex back to the touchline things seems to go United way now. As the lead is narrowed to 2 points the next weekend will be crucial for both Chelsea and United.

Fairytale ending for Red Devils

In a nail biting finish to one of the most spectacular matches in this year’s premier league, Manchester United won 4-3 against their neighbour Manchester City in a hard fought match over 90 minutes… IN FACT BEYOND 90 minutes and it was Michael Owen who gave his team the prized goal for the victory at Old Trafford. It was a topsy turvy match with Man United taking the lead every time and Manchester City catching them up everytime within a short notice till the time Michael Owen scored the decider in the dying minutes of the match.
It was a huge entertainment for the 75000+ fans present to watch the match and most of them were delighted to see their home team winning in this dramatic fashion.
It certainly was a game of two halves as, despite United‘s rapid start, City had most of the possession before the break. But the victory was wholly justified as United‘s second-half display was sheer class.

Wayne Rooney initiated the scoring as early as the 5th minute of the match only for Tevez to capitalise on Foster’s error and set up Gareth Barry’s equaliser 11 minutes later.
Sir Alex is famed for his half-time motivational speeches, and this one must have been a corker because the Reds came back out with fire in their bellies. So in the 48th minute a great first-time cross from the left by veteran winger Ryan Giggs and Fletcher gets up well at the far post ahead of Barry to head United in front from 6 yards out but just 4 minutes after Fletcher scored Bellamy was allowed space to cut in on his right foot 20 yards out on the corner of the area which finds the far top corner.
One must give credit to Manchester City’s goalkeeper Shay Given for his saves which kept united at bay in the middle of the second half. Score at this time was 2-2.
Another free-kick on the left 6 yards out is sent in to the area by Giggs and Fletcher rises to head home his second of the goal from an almost identical position to his first goal and gave united a 3-2 lead in the 80th minute which a looking like a final scoreline unless n until a sloppy pass from Ferdinand on the half-way line gifts the ball straight to Bellamy, who races on and squeezes the ball past Foster which levelled the scoreline at 3-3 at the end of the stipulated time of the match. When some of the spectators left the stadium thinking a draw in their minds, some loud noises were heard till the far end of Manchester when Owen grabbed his late, late winner to end an enthralling derby in United’s favour.