United Lose their cool
These are the pictures of Manchester United players Evra, Scholes, O'Shea, Park all involved in a fight with the Chelsea groundsmen..! Groundsmen ? Yes, Apparently what happened after the match was that the united players were warming down after the match. When they were nearing their completion one of the Chelsea groundsmen came and asked them to get off the pitch. When they refused a fight broke.
Remember before this match they have not won a match since their 1-0 win over Roma in the Champions League. Their last win in the premier league was against Aston Villa way back on the 29th of March.
Are United beginning to lose their cool ?
Ballack blows away United
Ballack was at his terrific best against united
Chelsea 2 Manchester United 1
Chelsea scorers:Ballack (45+1, 84 pen) United scorers: Rooney (55)
Oh God, what a superb game of football, at the end of which we thoroughly deserved to come out victorious. Manchester United were awful and hopeless in the first half. We totally dominated them from start to finish in the first period. We should have scored early on in the game itself when Joe Cole hit the post. We continued to press forward with the like of defensive minded Mikel spending most of the time near united's penalty box. Cech was sleeping on a cot at the other end because there was pretty much nothing to do for him. United were holding on only just.
And finally the pressure paid off right at the end of injury time in the first half. Drogba shook of four defenders and then put a beautiful cross for Ballack to head home. Ballack must deserve as much credit as the cross, such was his wonderful timed run.
I thought that second half united will improve. And they did only because we sat back. The game was then comfortable for us until a dreadful error from the ever reliable Carvalho. He gave the ball straight to Rooney who then finished. The title dreams were in shatters. Grant then brought on Anelka, Shevchenko. At the 83rd minute a miracle happened. United who had not conceded a penalty all through the season in the league conceded one after Carrick's handball. Ballack stepped up and sent it home. What a victory, what a match.
Now we are level on points with united leading only be goal difference. Lets hope that united drop points in the remaining 2 games.
Chelsea vs Manchester United Preview
Drogba should be firing on all cylinders.
Today we face Manchester United in what could be a win or lose for the title. If we manage to get all three points then we are giving ourselves a massive chance hoping that Manchester United draw or lose any of their remaining two games. If three points are essential then we must attack right from the start. We must get in their faces, show lots of aggression, rattle them in the opening 15 minutes or so. Having said that its also important that we don't concede in the opening 20 minutes. We don't want to be chasing for the rest of the game. Its very much important that we get the first goal.
Frank Lampard is set to miss the clash but in Essien we have a player of the same quality to replace him.Drogba is expected to start along with J.Cole and Kalou. Essien, Ballack, Makelele are expected to run in the midfield. If Manchester United also go with the 3 in midfield then it should be very tough to break them down. Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes should start in midfield.
Lets hope that we get the 3 points today and get a win against Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday in what could be season defining week for us.
Deep Condolences to Frank
Sad times for Frank Lampard
I would like to offer my sincere condolences to Frank Lampard and his family after the news of the tragic death of his mother Pat Lampard, 58, due to pneumonia.
He is not expected to feature against Manchester United on Saturday. Losing your mother at any stage of your life can be very tragic. Hope he comes back in good heart.
Ibrahimovic heading to the Bridge?
Are we going to see the Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the bridge soon? It is widely expected that there will be mass exodus in the summer. Drogba, our main striker is at the top of list. Hence its no surprise that we are currently linked with a lot of strikers and midfielders. David Villa of Valencia C.F, Amauri of Palermo, Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona are some of the names that are currently mentioned.
Now the latest rumour is that we are lining up a bid for Ibrahimovic who is 6 foot 3 inches. Quite a large i must say. Perfect for the lone strikers role which we have in our formation. He is currently a Inter Milan player and is expected to cost nearly $50m. I would love to see him here because he is a fantastic finisher, provides lots of assists, holds up, brings others into play.
Thank you Riise
Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1
The score line doesn't tell the whole story.We got battered out there in Anfield but we are coming back with an away goal.We were totally rubbish and were outplayed throughout the match except the last ten minutes or so. Most of it is down to Joe Cole i believe because he is the only creative player in our team who can open up a game when things are not going well. But yesterday i think it must have been one of his worst performances in a chelsea shirt. He was invisible throughout the match and then missed a glorious opportunity to take the lead from a Lampard pass.
Joe Cole not having his best of days.
Due to this all we did last night was pump the ball up to Drogba who was out on his own to make something out of it. To be fair you can't ask much more from him because he terrorised Carragher and Skrtel on his own. The thing that was missing was the support from midfield in the mode of Lampard and Ballack as they both sat deep. As a result we had only 3 shots on target the whole match
But hey this is the champions league and those with luck go on to win the cup as proved back in 2005 when Liverpool went through to the final without even scoring a goal against us (Luis Garcia's Ghost goal as its famously called). And we got the luck through John Arne Riise. He headed the ball into his own net in the last seconds of injury time to give us a precious away goal. For Liverpool it was Dirk Kuyt who scored just minutes before half time.
Petr Cech was at his usual best.
And i forgot to mention the best player on the pitch for us, Petr Cech. After so many horrific injuries he has once again proved that he is simply the best in the world. If it was not for him we could have easily let in three or four.
The second leg is on 30th April, Wednesday. A little fact. Liverpool have not scored for the past eight games at the bridge.
Liverpool vs Chelsea Preview Part 2
The Big match is just hours away from kick off. Liverpool had a very good news that Gerrard is fit again and that he is most likely to start the match playing in the hole behind Torres. We have a very good news on our own, which is that lampard is back in training and can be expected to start the match.
Ballack is struggling to be fit in time.Grant has said that the chances of Ballack playing is 50-50.Another important player who is struggling is Drogba, with a knee injury that kept him out earlier in the season.I expect Ballack to be on the bench because if he is not fit then there is no point in playing him.We might as well have him in good shape for the Manchester United match this weekend.
I expect chelsea to lineup in a 4-3-3 as follows:
Cech
Makelele
Liverpool line up expected as 4-4-1-1:
Is there a Chance now?
Blackburn Rovers 1 --Manchester United 1
United have won there only once in the last four years and today they seemed to lose again to a resilient Blackburn side. Manchester united came to life only in the last ten minutes or so. They would have lost if not for Carlos Tevez's equalizer just before the injury time.
So Manchester United find themselves only three points ahead of Chelsea with the big game at Stamford Bridge next week. If we win that game we go level on points with them but not ahead in the table since they have a better goal difference than us.So lets hope that Manchester United drop a point in their next two games which are home to West Ham and away to Wigan
Liverpool vs Chelsea Preview Part1
Lampard-Crucial to our success
Can we have any other opponent please? This will be the third time in four seasons that we will be meeting Liverpool in the semi's of the Champions League.Even though we have failed on the previous occasions i firmly believe that we will go through this time because of not being third time lucky but i think that we have the strongest squad at this time.In previous years Liverpool used to rest all their big players (player should i say i.e, steven gerrard) because they had nothing to play for..!!!!
But this time around I'll tell the factors due to which i think that we'll go through.
1. Our players have played very few games this season.
Lampard-35 (last season it was around 50)
Ballack-24 (Was out through injury last season)
Drogba-26 (last season it was around 50)
2. In the previous seasons Liverpool had the advantage of playing the second leg at Anfield while this time we have the second leg at the Bridge.
3. 50% of Liverpool's goals this season have come from Torres and Gerrard.So contain them and they won't score many.
Gerrard-An inspiration for Liverpool
Essien puts Blues back on Track
Micheal Essien scored for the second time in a week to close the gap to Manchester United to just two points with three games remaining although Manchester United have a game in hand over us.
The match was a extremely dull affair with neither side creating chances to score.We had lots of possession but lacked quality in the final third and as a result of which one of the usual Jose Mourinho kind of victories.Anelka and Joe Cole were very very poor and that showed because Joe Cole is the one who usually provides with some entertainment.
In the business end of the season and winning is more important than anything.
Lets hope that Blackburn rovers who play Manchester United on Saturday
do us a favour and haul us back into the title race.
Everton vs Chelsea | 17th April @ 20:00 UK
Chelsea go into the game needing all the three points if they are to keep their slim chance of the title.It is expected that both Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba will both miss today's match.Lampard due to his mom's illness and drogba due to a niggling knee injury.Anelka is expected to lead the attack supported by Joe Cole and Saloman Kalou.
The Everton lineup is somewhat weakened by the absence of Mikeal arteta and Leon Osman due to injuries.Everton have been in poor form lately ever since the injury of their influential midfielder Tim Cahill.Yakubu and Andy Johnson are expected to lead the attack.
A win for Chelsea today means that the gap at the top of the table is reduced to just two points and if Manchester united slip at the weekend then the title race is wide open again.
Rijkaard at the bridge?
With Avram Grant coming under intense pressure at the moment it is interesting to see which manager will be likely to replace him at the bridge.
Rijkaard is himself under pressure at Barcelona, despite leading the club to the Champions League semi-finals this season - where they are joined by Chelsea.Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin believes that former Stamford Bridge striker Gianfranco Zola would be another leading contender - if Grant leaves at the end of the season.And the Scot has a suspicion that long-serving assistant manager Steve Clarke is likely to leave Stamford Bridge if Grant remains at the London club.
Out of title race?
After the draw against wigan the title race seems to be all but over.
"We are still in the title race. It is more difficult now but we will still fight away," said Grant.
Chelsea face Everton on Thursday before playing United on 26 April.
"We need to win the games against Everton and Manchester United," added Grant. "If not, it will be more difficult - and we need one more bad result off Manchester United.
"We know at some stage you can lose the points but we didn't want it to happen against Wigan."
Lets hope that Manchester united drop points against Blackburn thereby giving us a slim chance of the title.
Petr cech close to return
Petr Cech who has had a horrific injury after clashing with defender Tal ben haim is close to returning according to manager Avram grant.This is what Avram had to say about Petr cech's injury.
'I don't know, I said he is improving, we have tested a mask for him, We need to go again with him, and in a way he is training. In one training he wore a mask, one he was without. We are checking all the possibilities with him.
I cannot tell you now but we need to speak with the medical department and see how he is feeling, the chances are not so good. I think for the moment it is a risk, but I am not a doctor.'
Cech looks like he will be starting against wigan.Even though it might be early for him we need him to be playing in all the matches starting from now as we are in a crucial part of the season.
Chelsea vs Wigan | 14th April @ 20:00 UK
Chelsea head into the game requiring all three points to stay in touch with Manchester united who moved six points clear of us after beating arsenal 2-1 at old trafford on Sunday.
Avram Grant has come out and said the following
'We are at the end of the season, we have come so far and we are so close and we don't want to miss it,'
'I think, if we win every game, we will win the title. It is not easy to win all your games. I don't think Manchester United and Arsenal can do it.'
If we beat wigan and everton (Thursday) then we will be level on points with united who play on Saturday against Blackburn.