One goal send Germans preparing for a Third place play off while Spain make history.

First Europe and now, possibly, the world for Spain, who won through to the Final of South Africa 2010 with a 1-0 victory over Germany in Durban. Carles Puyol's 74th-minute header repeated the single-goal triumph over Germany that secured La Roja the European title two years ago and now only the Netherlands stand between them and a first FIFA World Cup™ title.

        Whatever the outcome at Soccer City on Sunday, there will be history made with a new name on the Trophy after Spain produced their best performance of these finals to end Germany's hopes of an eighth Final appearance and secure their first. Joachim Low’s men, by contrast, missing the suspended Thomas Muller, were unable to repeat the scintillating displays with which they swept aside England and Argentina and, as in 2006, suffered the anguish of semi-final defeat.

         While Germany were playing in their 12th FIFA World Cup semi-final, this was Spain's first, although it was business as usual for Vicente del Bosque's side, who dominated possession. Indeed Spain might have had an early goal when Pedro, making his first start of the finals in place of Fernando Torres, slipped a through-ball to David Villa after just six minutes. Clear of the Germany defence, Villa produced a sliding finish but Manuel Neuer was out of his goal fast to deny the Spaniard.

         There was another nervy moment to follow for Low's men after 14 minutes. From a short corner, Andres Iniesta drove in a centre that Puyol met with a flying header that, to the relief of the Germans, cleared the crossbar. Spain had more than 60 per cent of the ball in the game's first quarter but Germany, happy to sit deep and continue the counter-attacking game that had brought them such reward in previous matches, began to offer a threat. Lukas Podolski played in Mezut Ozil on the left and he duly supplied Miroslav Klose on the edge of the box, but the Bayern Munich forward was crowded out.

       Iker Casillas was called into action for the first time just after the half-hour to turn behind a low 30-yard drive from Piotr Trochowski, the man brought in to replace Muller. On the stroke of half-time, Germany finally picked a hole in the Spain defence when Ozil broke into the box on to a pass from Klose. As Sergio Ramos challenged, the German midfielder went to ground but referee Viktor Kassai waved play on.

       The second half began like the first, with Spain threatening Neuer's goal as Xabi Alonso drove narrowly wide from 25 yards, then Villa curled another attempt wide of the same post. The pressure intensified with the hour approaching and Germany's goal was lucky to survive intact. Pedro's low shot drew a fingertip save from Neuer and as Per Mertesacker dawdled over his clearance, Iniesta nipped in and drove a low ball across goal that the lunging Villa was within a whisker of reaching at the far post. With Germany still unable to clear their lines, Pedro then fired wide.

       Low sought to change things, sending on Marcell Jansen in place of Jerome Boateng and, later, Toni Kroos for Trochowski. It was Kroos who had Germany's first attempt of the second half in the 69th minute, meeting Podoski's far-post cross with a side-footed shot that Casillas beat away. 

Instead, with 16 minutes remaining, the decisive goal came at the other end. From a corner by Xavi, Puyol leapt above team-mate Gerard Pique and powered a header past Neuer. Pedro could have ensured a bigger margin of victory in the closing stages but he allowed Arne Friedrich to dispossess him after bursting through in a two-on-one with substitute Torres. It did not matter in the end, Spain's third successive 1-0 win carrying them into their first Final.

Drogba, Lampard follow the script

                                                                   Lampard and Drogba
It was exactly as the scriptwriters would have written it: goals from Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard sent Chelsea to the brink of winning the English Premier League.

After their 2-0 victory over a despondent Liverpool side at Anfield yesterday, Chelsea now need just a home victory over Wigan Athletic in next weekend’s season finale to ensure the trophy heads their way for the first time in four years.
And although this particular EPL season has contained some unlikely twists and turns, with Chelsea suffering their faire share of unanticipated stumbles along the way, surely they will claim the required victory next weekend — Wigan are a vastly inferior team who have nothing to play for, so Manchester United fans would be advised not to set their expectations too high.
It was entirely appropriate that Chelsea’s match-winning goals against Liverpool — which effectively secured the title — were scored by Drogba and Lampard, who have been the Blues’ attacking inspiration for years.

Both of them boast exceptional goalscoring records — Drogba with 127 in 259 appearances for the Blues; Lampard with 156 in 476 — and, as evidenced again this weekend, they also possess the ability to score important goals at important times.
Lampard’s goal return (one in every three games) is especially impressive for a midfielder and, on the assumption that he goes on to enjoy his third title triumph next weekend, he can now certainly be regarded as one of the greatest players in the club’s history.
Having broken into the first team at West Ham United — his first club — at such an early age, Lampard was already an established top flight performer by the time he joined Chelsea for £11 million (RM55 million) in the summer of 2001.
But he did have to overcome initial scepticism amongst many Chelsea supporters, who harshly believed that his progress at West Ham was largely due to the influence of the team’s assistant manager and his father, Frank Lampard Sr.
Those doubters have since been emphatically proven wrong, with Lampard becoming the single most important player for the Blues throughout their period of recent success (narrowly edging ahead of his great mate John Terry by virtue of the number of goals he’s scored). He has registered at least 10 league goals in each of the last seven seasons, and also shown remarkable durability by missing just 20 league games during his nine years at Stamford Bridge.
Yet, it’s difficult to define exactly what makes Lampard such a great player. He lacks pace, isn’t particularly strong or athletic, is little more than average in the air and no better than reasonable as a passer of the ball; in short, his physical attributes don’t tell the tale of a player who can play such a dominant role for so many years in the most demanding league in the world.
The qualities that set Lampard apart are the great intangibles — the vital attributes of anticipation, game understanding and instinct that can’t be taught or coached; the unquantifiable things that can’t be defined on spreadsheets or measured in gyms.
You either have the ability to get into the right positions for goalscoring opportunities to come your way, or you don’t. Lampard has those intangibles, and they have played a major part in Chelsea’s golden era.
Drogba’s powers are easier to define. His physical presence is so great that, when in full flow, he is almost impossible to defend against. Of course, the Ivorian also possesses a considerable amount of natural talent, but without his physical prowess he would be half the player.
He has led Chelsea’s line superbly for the last seven years, providing a focal point for their attack as well as scoring goals with impressive regularity. It’s no coincidence that Chelsea’s first title came at the end of his first season at Stamford Bridge, and he will be an extremely difficult player to replace when his powers finally begin to wane.
And there lies the long-term difficulty that Chelsea face. As I mentioned last week, their squad contains a number of ageing stars whose best days will soon be behind them — Drogba, Lampard, Anelka, Deco, Ballack... they are all well into their 30s and will soon need replacing.
But those concerns will be addressed at a later date. For now, Chelsea can celebrate their success at Anfield and look forward to confirming their status as Premier League champions.

Chelsea to emulate Malaysian drivers in title-quest

After all these years of watching English football, I just can’t believe that there are people out there who could possibly imagine a team going into a match with an intention to lose.
Okay, Wolves manager Mick McCarthy did imply it, when they travelled to Old Trafford earlier this season, with 10 changes to a side that had just beaten Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, but the ‘replacements’ did not just sit back, they held their own against the mighty Manchester United (MU).
There is no chance that Liverpool will pull the same trick of resting players in their 8.30pm kickoff against Chelsea at Anfield tonight. Rafa Benitez doesn’t have any reason to. Had they qualified for the Europa League final, he still might have some justification.
With Manchester City and Spurs both winning last night, any glimmer of hope Liverpool had of getting fourth spot for Champions League football has virtually ended. Liverpool can only achieve a maximum of 68 points from their last two matches, while Spurs are on 67 and City on 66 with two matches to go.
Man City and Spurs play this Wednesday in what will be a cup final for both. Should Spurs win they get fourth place. However, if Man City win, Spurs still have some hope should the Blues lose at West Ham United in the last round of matches next Sunday. Spurs travel to already-relegated Burnley in their last tie.
Either way, it means that Liverpool can now just take a break because the top seven teams in the English Premier League this season are guaranteed of Europa League qualification. It is a repeat of the situation last season.
This is because if the winner of the Carling Cup and FA Cup in England have already qualified for Europe (be it Champions League or Europa League), then an extra place will be allocated to the next top finisher in the league. MU won the Carling Cup last season while Chelsea won the FA Cup, thus the sixth and seventh teams in the league qualified for Europa League action.
MU have won the Carling Cup again and Chelsea are most likely repeat winners of the FA Cup, barring a miracle by Portsmouth, so there will be two extra places in the league again.

Actually, even if Portsmouth do win the FA Cup, the English FA have confirmed that they will not qualify for Europe because Portsmouth did not apply for a UEFA license earlier in the season, being cash-strapped as they are. The UEFA license is required for any team which thinks they have some chance of playing in Europe. Portsmouth obviously didn’t.
So, with Everton only getting a draw against Stoke City last night, the top seven positions in the EPL are now done and dusted.
The loser of this Wednesday’s clash between Man City and Spurs will join Liverpool and Aston Villa in the Europa League in the 2010/11 season.
This brings me back to tonight’s matches. It is likely to be the first time in history that a majority of Liverpool supporters in the stadium and around the world will be cheering the opposition, even with the opposition being Chelsea.
The ultimate prize for any MU fan is the ability to shout down Liverpool supporters with the records showing that the Red Devils have won more league titles than the Reds. So, after years of being second best to Liverpool in the category of total league titles, the tables will be turned even with Liverpool just getting a draw tonight.
As it is, equalling the 18 league title achievement of Liverpool at the end of the last season already meant a great deal to the MU fans, what more being numero uno.

But to be fair, even if MU did fail this time, one could certainly argue it was simply delaying the inevitable. As things stand, which team is more likely to win another title in the next few years? Liverpool fans might not like it, but most bets will be on MU to break the record sooner or later.
So, forgetting the issues between MU and Liverpool (and their respective supporters) for a moment, let us look at the match in itself.
Liverpool may have had a morale-boosting 4-0 win away to Burnley last Sunday, but they are surely a broken team at the moment, having come through 125 minutes of play in the Europa League semi-final encounter last Thursday night.
The Reds lost to Atletico Madrid on aggregate and were running ragged to the last minute hoping to get that one extra goal to be finalists. Tired legs already showed during the match and now, with a little bit more than 48 hours to recover, are they ready to face the might of Chelsea, 7-0 conquerors of Stoke last weekend?
One would be wise to remember that a rampant Chelsea is not good news for their next opponents.
On 27th March, Chelsea defeated Aston Villa 7-1 and travelled to Old Trafford the next weekend getting a 2-1 win over MU. Ironically, MU also won 4-0 away to Bolton the weekend before and lost to Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final encounter a few days before hosting Chelsea.
So, it is likely that Chelsea will be inspired by the many Malaysian drivers on the road and not take ‘Red’ to mean ‘STOP’ in their quest for the title.
Whatever the result at Anfield tonight, the Red Devils will still be going all out for a win at Sunderland (kickoff 11pm, tonight). Sunderland haven’t lost at home since December when they lost to Aston Villa by 2 goals to nil. This was also only their second home defeat after losing to Chelsea 3-1 last August in the second week of the season.
Nothing short of three points will do if MU are to stay in the hunt for the title, so Alex Ferguson’s men will need to be on guard against an in-form Sunderland side. Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has not beaten his former mentor in 13 attempts and this will be their third meeting in the last three years in the closing stages of the season.
The Black Cats have won three out of four games in April, including a comfortable 3-1 win over high-flying Tottenham. Besides, that MU will be seeking a better performance in this reverse fixture against Sunderland, having escaped defeat at Old Trafford in the dying seconds of injury time in their match last October, courtesy of an Anton Ferdinand own goal.
What an important point it has turned out to be with that unintentional ‘gift’ from Rio’s brother. This is because without that point, even a draw between Chelsea and Liverpool would have helped the Blues to the title, given their superior goal difference.
Anyhow, MU are hot favourites to get the win they desire tonight. Their record at the Stadium of Light is strong – five wins and two draws from seven visits. After picking up six points against neighbours Manchester City and Spurs in the last couple of weeks, MU will be in a determined mood, more so if leaders Chelsea had already dropped points at Anfield earlier in the day.
For the record, Chelsea are at home to Wigan Athletic in the last round of matches next Sunday, while MU host Stoke City. Both matches almost certain wins for the top two, unless Wigan can pull off another upset like they did against the Blues earlier in the season.

Will Liverpool surrender the title to Chelsea ?

One of the silliest rumours that I’ve heard this season — and there have been many — is the suggestion that Liverpool will lie down and make things easy for Chelsea at Anfield this weekend because they don’t want Manchester United to win the English Premier League title.
As you will no doubt already be aware, Chelsea currently head the EPL table by one point from Manchester United with two games to play. The Blues travel to Liverpool tomorrow afternoon, knowing that victory will leave just a home game against Wigan between them and the trophy. And, considering Liverpool’s fierce rivalry with their near-neighbours from Manchester, some pundits have speculated that they might simply let Chelsea win.
In reality, that simply won’t happen. As I wrote in this column a few weeks ago, professional footballers do not generally share the prejudices of their supporters, deriving their motivation instead from more selfish ambitions, and the majority of Liverpool players really couldn’t care less who ends up winning the title out of Manchester United or Chelsea.
Liverpool’s only motivation for the game will be a personal, positive one — clinging on to the faint hope that they can still secure qualification for next season’s Champions’ League by finishing in the top four. To make that happen it’s simply imperative for the Reds to win both of their remaining games, and that will be the only thing on their minds. The identity of their opponents, and the potential ramifications of the result to other teams, will not enter into their thinking.
However, something that probably will play a significant part in determining Liverpool’s mental approach to the game is their shattering Europa League exit against Atletico Madrid on Thursday night. For a long time now, the Reds have known that the Europa League offered their only potential route to a trophy — and Liverpool certainly approached the season with that specific ambition of winning silverware. Now the dream is gone, it would be natural for them to be somewhat mentally flat and distracted from the challenge presented by Chelsea.
Thursday night’s defeat against Madrid, by virtue of the away goals rule, was such a devastating occasion there is a real danger that it could effectively mark the end of the Reds’ mental commitment to their season. A cloud of negativity has been swirling around Anfield from the very early weeks of the season, ever since it became apparent that they were unlikely to mount a serious challenge for the EPL title, and that cloud could now become overwhelmingly stifling as Liverpool come to terms with their midweek European exit.
But whatever effect the events of Thursday night may exert on the morale of the Liverpool players, a far more important factor in deciding the outcome of Sunday’s meeting will be how well Chelsea play. It’s quite simple: if Chelsea perform at their best, they will probably win.
That will surely be the message that Carlo Ancelotti will transmit to his team as they prepare for the game: forget the opposition; forget the atmosphere within the stadium; forget Manchester United. Just concentrate on the process of eleven men against eleven men.
Already this season Chelsea have beaten Manchester United twice, Arsenal twice and Liverpool once, and they are more than capable of completing a ‘clean sweep’ of the Big Four if they don’t allow themselves to be carried away by the significance of the event — they need to focus on playing the game, not playing the occasion. A man as experienced and clear-thinking of Ancelotti will surely ensure they have the right frame of mind and don’t allow themselves to become over-excited.
Fresh legs will be another factor to give Ancelotti’s side the edge. While Liverpool went through the tiring mental process of preparing for a major semi-final and then endured 120 minutes of gruelling physical endeavour, often chasing the ball as Madrid dominated possession, Chelsea’s players had the welcome opportunity to partake in some gentle training sessions, rest some aching limbs and receive treatment for niggling injuries.
At this stage of the season, towards the culmination of 10 months of relentless, constantly challenging physical work, nearly every player is carrying some kind of injury. A combination of rest and treatment allows most players to get through the pain for another couple of weeks, but Liverpool’s more punishing schedule will exacerbate the aches and pains felt by their players, while their last seven days of contrastingly peaceful activity should allow Chelsea to be a lot closer to 100 per cent.
So everything seems to be adding up to count against Liverpool: the lingering disappointment of Thursday night; the lack of purpose and direction for their remaining games; the punishing physical schedule they’ve undertaken, and, last but by no means least, the fact that Chelsea have a better group of players.
In a logical world, all of these factors should combine to result in a comfortable victory for Chelsea tomorrow; but we all know that football is not always logical. More often than not it is, but not always. So there remains a chance that Liverpool will somehow overcome the odds and further obstruct Chelsea’s progress towards the EPL trophy, and in this topsy-turvy season it appears that nothing will be straightforward.
Only one thing can be certain: if Chelsea do come away from Anfield victorious, it won’t be due to a lack of effort on the hosts’ behalf.
Away from Anfield, the most meaningful game of the weekend takes place at Eastlands, where fifth placed Manchester City host sixth placed Aston Villa. With Tottenham, current occupants of the all-important fourth spot, presented with a seemingly routine home game against Bolton, this is effectively a last chance for City and Villa to maintain their claims for the final Champions’ League qualifying berth.
Defeat for either side will almost certainly bring their challenge to an abrupt end, and in such a pressurised situation it’s a tough one to call. Home advantage could be enough to turn the tie in City’s favour, but they have a series of injury concerns and have been surrounded by continuing speculation over the future of their manager Roberto Mancini. City have home advantage, Villa have the momentum; it could go either way.

EPL title should already be Chelsea’s

Chelsea’s mightily impressive 7-0 demolition of Stoke City on Sunday afternoon re-established the London club’s supremacy at the top of the English Premier League table, and they are now just two more wins away from clinching their first EPL title since 2006.
The Blues have plenty of reason to feel optimistic — they were magnificent against Stoke, taking the game to their beleaguered opponents from the opening whistle with an adventurous formation that found room for three strikers — Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou — as well as attacking midfielders Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda.
Stoke, normally a stubborn defensive unit, simply had no answer; it’s a somewhat mischievous point, but a measure of Chelsea’s dominance was that even Kalou managed a hat-trick — the Ivorian had only scored one previous league goal all season.
It was extremely impressive stuff, but in truth the Blues should already have the championship sown up. If they fail to see off the challenge of Manchester United in the next fortnight, it will have been a major opportunity missed — and an opportunity which may not present itself quite so easily next time around.

From the very beginning of the season, Chelsea have looked like they should be the country’s dominant team. With a galaxy of stars including Drogba, Anelka, Frank Lampard, Deco, Florent Malouda, Joe Cole, Michael Essien and Michael Ballack amongst others, Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti has been graced with a variety of attacking options to inspire jealousy even in Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ancelotti aside, there were no high-profile arrivals at Stamford Bridge during the course of last summer, but there were also no high-profile departures, and that provided the incoming Italian coach with an enviable degree of continuity around which to base his plans.
In stark contrast, the transfers of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and Carlos Tevez to Manchester City left current title holders United markedly weaker. Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia were never going to replace the productivity offered by the departing Ronaldo and Tevez, and United’s chief hope would be that Dimitar Berbatov would up his game to fill some of the void — that clearly hasn’t happened.

Of the other challengers, Liverpool never looked remotely capable of continuing their promising form of last season, Arsenal were denied the services of their most important striker, Robin Van Persie, for virtually the entire campaign, and newly-monied Manchester City are still in a development phase.
So if there was ever a season when winning the EPL could have been a relatively straightforward task for a team of Chelsea’s calibre, this was it. The title has been there for Chelsea’s taking, and the fact that they boast a 100 per cent record from their meetings with Arsenal, United and Liverpool suggests they are more than good enough to have waltzed their way to a comfortable triumph.
Instead, they’re left sweating it out until the last two weekends of the season due to the periodic and inexplicable intervention of strangely below par team performances, most recently in evidence when they produced an insipid display in last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham. That was Chelsea’s sixth league defeat of the season — more than any title-winning team since Manchester United nearly a decade ago.
Perhaps Chelsea’s occasional dips can be explained by the advancing age of their squad; with Drogba, Anelka, Lampard, Deco and Ballack all pushing the wrong side of 30, maybe they’ve been let down by an occasional lack of combined energy on the days that their usual high standards have deserted them — when they’re playing badly, younger squads can mask their deficiencies with a severe bout of hard running, but Chelsea’s collective age prohibits that.
Whether that’s true or not, the age of Chelsea’s squad is a big concern for the future, and one of the major reasons why it’s so important for them to take their present opportunity.
Deco has already announced his intention to retire at the end of the season, Ballack may well head the same way, and Drogba’s punishing physical style of play can’t continue forever — the next fortnight could represent the final stand for this current Chelsea squad.
But who will replace the ageing stars? In recent years Chelsea’s transfer policy has simply been to spend as much money as necessary, but that approach seems to have softened in the last 18 months as a result of owner Roman Abramovich’s vulnerability to the global financial crash.
In that context, the future might lie with the likes of youngsters Daniel Sturridge and Gael Kakuta instead of a new tranche of imported Galacticos.
And while Chelsea are possibly approaching a downward curve, it’s reasonable to expect Manchester United to become even stronger next season, with Sir Alex widely expected to make a major splash in the summer transfer market for a striker or two (perhaps sacrificing Berbatov as a bargaining tool).
Furthermore, Manchester City — who have twice beaten Chelsea this season — will almost certainly continue to spend heavily during the summer, and rumours are continuing to grow that former Blues boss Jose Mourinho will be lured to Eastlands in place of Roberto Mancini, while Arsenal’s prodigiously talented young squad should be capable of making a more sustained assault on the title next season (especially if Arsene Wenger swallows his pride and adds a couple of feisty ball-winners).
So with Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal all showing the potential to get better, Chelsea need to capitalise on their opportunity to win the title now — if they don’t, they might not get another chance like it for a long time.

Back To the drawing board.

For the past eight days, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has led a campaign that showcased everything rotten about Umno and BN.

The vilification and assassination on the personal lifestyle of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, candidate of PKR and Pakatan Rakyat was absolutely disgusting but it brought mixed results based on the Malays' voting pattern.
The people of Hulu Selangor did not respond to BN's campaign by giving Zaid a decisive thumping, but instead word has it that they were displeased with the gutter politics on show.
Even though Zaid was not elected as the new representative of Hulu Selangor, it has shown to the nation that Umno has adopted this brand of politics.
Playing the typical opposition's game, Umno moved in to kill off Zaid by accusing him of not being Islamic enough, referring to his liberal character.
Then there was the crossing over of a few of Pakatan's representatives in the hope of destabilising the alliance that has been touted as the government-in-waiting.
The ill intent and misguided efforts were a desperate attempt by Najib to hold on to power and to reverse the potential end of BN's 53-year rule.
The wisdom of the people of all races — Malays, Chinese, Indians, Orang Asal and the rest of the population — should not be underestimated though.
They crave for a government that is able to provide a visionary leadership to propel the country to greater heights economically, politically and socially.
The Malays have expressed their displeasure with Umno's extremism as indicated by a vote swing for Pakatan in some Malay areas of Batang Kali.
The majority of the Chinese in Kuala Kubu Bharu township and the many urban Indians including the Orang Asal showed their abhorrence of Umno's utter contempt of their rights as Malaysians.
It is fortunate that the self-imposed referendum on Najib's leadership did not backfire as it would have been very embarassing for Najib if BN had lost.
BN clearly outplayed Pakatan by dishing out monies and projects for the constituents of Hulu Selangor.
To the Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Rakyat, the goal is to relieve BN's stranglehold on the lives of ordinary Malaysians — in the urban cities, kampungs, estates and the remote areas.
Pakatan needs to deal with the results of the Hulu Selangor by-election with great humility; that the trust of the people needs to be safeguarded and upheld with ultimate transparency, accountability and responsibly.
The people of Hulu Selangor have also shown some affinity to Pakatan and this should not be destroyed with internal squabbling and politicking among Pakatan component members.
The almost non-existent PKR machinery especially in Hulu Bernam and the Felda areas of Hulu Selangor show a lack of engagement with the Malay voters.
This is also similar in the national context, whereby the message of Pakatan does not get across to the Malay population and this has to be addressed by Pakatan as a whole, not just by PAS or to a lesser extent PKR.
The calls for change will not be realised if the Malays do not buy into this message and major effort needs to be given due consideration by Pakatan including DAP in order to break the myth that the Chinese-led party will trample on the rights of the Malays.
There has to be a clear, simple and direct message for the rural Malays that a Pakatan government will protect their rights, their livelihoods, the Malay Sultans, the Malay language and Islam as the religion of the Federation.
If these issues are given due attention, maybe then we will see a second political tsunami in the country come the next general election.

Title race takes another twist

         After Arsenal's last 10 minutes 3:2 defeat at the DW Stadium(Wigan's home)the title race was a clear two horse race between Chelsea and Manchester United.

Just when we thought Chelsea’s gradual progression towards the Premier League title was becoming a formality, along comes another twist to this strange season to leave the race wide open again.

As we entered the weekend’s fixture list the Blues were firmly installed as odds-on favourites to lift the EPL trophy for the first time since 2006, but their 2-1 defeat at Tottenham, coming just a few hours after Manchester United had scored an injury time winner against Manchester City for the third time this season, has thrown everything into doubt once again.

With three games remaining, United are now just one point behind the leaders. With Wayne Rooney seemingly back to fitness, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team will fancy their chances to pick up maximum points from their remaining games, and that would force Chelsea to do the same to hold off the Red Devils.

Although two of Chelsea’s remaining fixtures – home encounters with Stoke City and Wigan Athletic – should be relatively straightforward, they do face one significant challenge with a trip to Liverpool on Sunday 2nd May. That fixture will provide one of those exceptionally rare moments in football: Manchester United fans hoping that Liverpool win. Although it will go against their nature to cheer on long-time hate figures such as Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, if Liverpool can take points from Chelsea in a fortnight, the door will be left wide open for United.

So Chelsea, if they are to lift the trophy, are doing it the hard way, and it has certainly not been an easy campaign for the west London club. Under the guidance of new manager Carlo Ancelotti — their fifth man at the helm in a little over three years — the Blues have been forced to confront a number of serious hurdles, which have been nothing if not wide-ranging in their nature.


Amongst the obstacles put in their way, Chelsea have endured seeing the sordid personal life of their captain and inspirational leader John Terry exposed to the world; midfield dynamo Michael Essien has missed more than four months of action through injury; goalscoring hero Didier Drogba departed for a month in the middle of the season to compete in the African Cup of Nations, and marauding full-back Ashley Cole was out of action for two months with a broken ankle at the same time that fellow defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Jose Bosingwa were also sidelined through injury.

The peak of their woes came between the middle of February and the middle of March, at a time when Terry’s personal revelations were still fresh, Cole and Essien were out injured, and Drogba temporarily lost his ability to find the back of the net. During that fraught period, Chelsea were dumped out of the Champions’ League by their former manager Jose Mourinho, thrashed 4-2 at home by Manchester City and surrendered an early lead to drop more points at Blackburn.

In the face of all that adversity, then, the Blues deserve great credit for putting themselves into a position to win the double, as they are still well placed to do. It would have been easy for them to have crumbled, especially during that period in March when their season was seriously on the line, and the fact that they recovered so well says a lot for the resilient mentality of their players and the phlegmatic managerial skills of Ancelotti. They could not have a better leader to keep them calm, focussed and unflustered as they approach these nervous final few weeks.

And what about Tottenham?! Spurs have long been an infuriatingly unpredictable team to follow, and that trait has certainly been in evidence this season. Just seven days ago they were being lambasted for their poor performance in their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Portsmouth, with supporters resigning themselves to another season of frustration. But now they’ve beaten both Arsenal and Chelsea in the space of four days, reclaiming the all-important fourth position from Manchester City in the process.

Tottenham could still have a significant say in the title race: next weekend they travel to Old Trafford to provide what should be Manchester United’s most testing remaining fixture. Which Tottenham side will turn up — the free-flowing, fast-paced exuberant entertainers who dismantled Chelsea and Arsenal, or the misfiring, over-casual show-boaters who lost to Portsmouth? With Spurs you can never be sure, but it certainly keeps the title race — and the challenge for the fourth Champions’ League spot — very interesting.

So, which way will the title race turn next? Well, in the last couple of weeks I’ve confidently predicted that Spurs would cruise past Portsmouth into the FA Cup semi-final (they didn’t), that Hull would hammer Burnley at home (they lost) and that Manchester City would take points off their cross-city rivals to end United’s title bid (they didn’t).

The only prediction I’ve got right (so far) in the last few weeks is that Arsenal’s challenge would fall away, so we can probably expect both Chelsea and United to continue to drop points and allow Arsene Wenger’s men to somehow recover from their shocking capitulation at Wigan to storm their way to a triumphant title.