Liverpool to fight Chelsea for fourth place while United hopes for some light.

Shifting back to the English Premier League, the final two games are going to be the most important of all. With just 2 points between leaders Chelsea and second placed Manchester United, it is anybody’s title of course the blues having the upper hand. This sunday half of it will be decided when Chelsea will be travelling to meet Liverpool at Anfield followed by Manchester United‘s match against Sunderland.

Its an important fixture at the top, for Chelsea it is about the titie while for Liverpool it is more important regarding the climbing up of places and securing themselves a place in Europe. Chelsea‘s body language was seen totally fired up with their 7-0 win against Stoke City last weekend. Chelsea will be banking on the experience of Frank Lampard to deliver while Didier Drogba has enjoyed a fantastic season and is closing in on Wayne Rooney as the Premier League’s top scorer. Skipper John Terry will return for Chelsea but Liverpool will be without striker Fernando Torres as they aim to keep alive their slim chances of a top-four finish.

Just after Chelsea‘s match all focus will be shifting on the Stadium of Light where the red devils will be playing. Man United will be having a close look on Darren Bent as he scored against them in the opening minutes the last time they met. Sunderland are on a good run, with three wins from their last four games. And they are unbeaten at home in their last nine League games. But positives for United is that they have the best away record in the league this season with 33 points. United will be banking on the lights of Berbatov in the front  with crucial passes from Nani and Giggs from the sides. But whatever it is, the EPL will go down to the wire this season.

The match timings are:

Saturday

Birmingham City Vs Burnley  12:45 Hours GMT

Manchester City  Vs Aston Villa  15:00 Hours GMT

Portsmouth Vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 15:00 Hours GMT

Stoke City  Vs Everton 15:00 Hours GMT

Tottenham Hotspur Vs Bolton Wanderers 15:00 Hours GMT

Sunday

Liverpool Vs Chelsea 13:30 Hours GMT

Fulham Vs West Ham United 15:00 Hours GMT

Sunderland Vs Manchester United 16:00 Hours GMT

2-2. Surprised by Sunderland

In a surprising result at Old Trafford, Manchester United had to settle for a draw against Sunderland in Saturday’s premier league action. It could have been worse for the home side as they were trailing 1-2 by the end of the stipulated 90 minutes and not before Anton Ferdinand of Sunderland scored an own goal in the injury time to make the scores level. With this both Manchester United and Sunderland will share one point each and as of now Man United is leading by one point at the top of the table.

Now all eyes will be on Chelsea Vs Liverpool match and the Red Devils will be hoping the other reds win so that their narrow lead over the Londoners stay intact.
In the match, the first goal was scored in the 7th minute by Darren Bent of Sunderland with a superb strike which went in the goal through bottom right corner giving no chance for the Man Utd’s goalkeeper Ben Foster. Frustration was seen everywhere for the Red Devils when, reds should have had a penalty after 36 minutes when Sunderland winger Andy Reid attempted to knock Nani’s cross back to Craig Gordon, clearly using his arm to do so. Alan Wiley, however, disagreed. Sir Alex was furious and was seen exchanging some harsh word with the fourth official. With no solid attack by Manchester United in the first half, the scoreline remained as it is…
The second half had something to cheer for United as Dimitar Berbatov scored through a wonderful cyclic kick from inside the penalty area of Sunderland in the 50th minute. (A serious contender for the best goal). But just minutes later Sunderland scored again through Kenwyne Jones. The last minutes of the match again saved United.

This time it was Anton Ferdinand of Sunderland scored an own goal from the shot of Patrice Evra in a crowded “D” of Sunderland thus gifting a draw to Manchester United. There is plenty to reconcile after the draw and who knows Sir Alex might have already started with the task.

The Devils steal a point

Manchester United managed to pull off a draw against Sunderland to go a point ahead of Chelsea who are yet to play their match this week.
Darren Bent kicked things off with an early goal in the 8th min with a spectacular driven strike from just outside the box well out of Ben Foster’s reach. Manchester United then failed to get back till the half-time break with Paul Scholes adding another Yellow Card to his season’s tally. Sir Alex substituted him at half-time getting in young Anderson hoping to improve United’s passing in the midfield which had not been upto the mark in the First Half.
Early in the Second Half, Dimitar Berbatov equalized with a brilliant semi-bicycle kick off O’Shea’s cross in the 51st minute. 7 minutes later, Kenwyne Jones put the Black Cats on top with a header past Foster in a controversial goal which saw Jones elbowing Foster in the head, restricting him from punching the ball away. The latter part of the half saw a Second Yellow card for ex-Manchester United player Keiran Richardson for kicking the ball away after a foul. A minor fault ruined the youngsters return to his former home, Old Trafford. Manchester United then struggled for an equalizer till the 92nd minute (2 minutes into injury time), where Evra guided a layed-off ball wide only to be deflected in by Rio’s brother in Sunderland, Anton Ferdinand for an Own Goal equalizer. Even though, Manchester United had a chance to go up in the last minute with a corner, they failed to capitalize and ended the match in a draw.
Well, after this match, I think a serious question should be raised to the FIFA to change Football terminology. Change injury time to Manchester Untied time. What say? 😛

Manchester United Vs Sunderland.

Fresh from their win in champion league, Manchester United will be all fired up to carry on their winning streak against Sunderland in the premier league campaign. As the Red Devils is already on the top of the table they would be planning to cement this place with higher goal difference as a win looks certain on the cards. After Manchester United’s match on Saturday all eyes will be on Sunday’s match where Chelsea will be hosting Liverpool and the red devils fans will be hoping the blues looses their match against the visiting team which will make Manchester United go three points clear at the top of the table.

On the pitch news is that Michael Owen will not be available for Saturday’s match following his early substitution in midweek’s champions league match. The good news is that South Korean mid fielder Ji-sung Park will hopefully be available after suffering from a virus in midweek. Another big news for the day is that Manchester United’s first choice goal keeper Edwin van der Sar has started training and will be back soon. Sir Alex will be happy to see Rooney to score couple of times and Berbatov find the net.
A 3-0 score line or even more is expected from United as the current form is going. The match will start at 1730 Hours GMT (i.e. 2200 Hours IST)
Other matches will be starting as:
Saturday:
Bolton Wanderers vs Tottenham Hotspurs at Reebok Stadium at 1300 Hours GMT
Burnley vs Birmingham City at Turf Moor at 1300 Hours GMT
Hull City vs Wigan Athletic at KC Stadium at 1300 Hours GMT
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Portsmouth at Molineux Stadium at 1300 Hours GMT

Sunday
Arsenal vs Blackburn Rovers at Emirates Stadium at 1330 Hours GMT
Everton vs Stoke City at Goodison Park at 1500 Hours GMT
West Ham United vs Fulham at Boleyn Ground at 1500 Hours GMT
Chelsea vs Liverpool at Stamford Bridge at 1600Hours GMT

Monday
Aston Villa vs Manchester City at Villa Park at 2000 Hours GMT