It gets even better, checking the schedules last night  Chelsea and ManU play on Wed. May 9th in the second to last game of the EPL season.  With just 3 points separating them right now it looks pretty likely that game will decide the title.

Both clubs face a killer 8 day stretch up to that game with Chelsea facing Liverpool, Arsenal, then ManU.   ManU faces  ACMilan, ManCity, then Chelsea.  Throw in the previous week where ManU face ACMilan and Everton.  Tough going.

1 week later the FA Cup Final and later the Champions Cup Final.  Esentially they could play 3 times in 3 weeks.  Of course both have a lot of winning to go,  Liverpool has a really easy Prem schedule to finish the season so they'll go all out for the Champions Cup semi's.




note:  On the day ManU lost to Portsmouth, Chelsea was literally 1 minute away from an embarrasing draw at last place Watford.  A very late goal turned the title race on its head.

Liverpool has the best Champs League team.  They are just more set-up for a run at major Euro titles than they are for the EPL.  Nothing wrong with that, but it seems like they have a better shot at it than Chelsea.

ManU keeps their scoring surge continuing with a 4-1 thumping of Watford today to push them into the FA Cup finals.  Rooney had 2 goals today for the Reds.

Beasley scored again for Man City today (they're tied 1-1 with Arsenal at the half).  I'm glad to see the quicker play is suiting him.  It will be very good for the US squad if he can become a confident scorer.

Boy oh boy.  Did Chelsea blow a golden opportunity to really put the pressure on the boys from ManU last weekend or what?!

I recorded the ManU match (it was too damn nice to sit inside and watch it live on Saturday!) and with the ease of how they scored that 1st goal, I thought they would be off and running.  But give credit to Boro as they didn't back down and in all reality, could have easily come away from Old Trafford with 3 points!  That really would have been a huge blow to the Reds.

Speaking of blows, ManU will be without the services of Rio Ferdinand and 5 other key members including basically their entire defense in their Champions League semi-final with AC Milan today!

Wes Brown is a little slow in the middle, but he's certainly a class fullback.  John O'Shea is also a quality defender.  They'll have Richardson out of position along the back, but so long as the mid-field keeps up with the pressure, they should be fine.  This is where Rooney and Ronaldo really have to prove themselves on the world scale.  They'll have to get back on defense while keeping the attack pressure on.

AC is coming in weak this year, so unless things click together for them, I can't see it being out of reach for ManU in the second leg.

Quote from: Hoops Fan on April 24, 2007, 10:23:44 AM

This is where Rooney and Ronaldo really have to prove themselves on the world scale.  They'll have to get back on defense while keeping the attack pressure on.

Giggs was rested for Saturday's Boro match and the announcers said it really made a huge difference and it allowed Boro to really clamp down on Ronaldo.  He was basically a non-factor in that match.  With Giggs back in the lineup today, I would look for Ronaldo to make much more of an impact.

Yeah, Giggs has been the MVP this year.  They better reward him with another year or two.

According to the BBC, these are the players who will not able to play for Man U due to injury:

Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre, Craig Cathcart, Louis Saha, Ji-Sung Park and Kieran Richardson.

Some big boots to fill there.

I'm not sure about Richardson.  The last article I read was dated yesterday and had him starting on the back line.  If he's out too, that would mean they're down to 12 first teamers active for this one.

The injury list I posted was from an article posted this morning--it is still up on bbc.co.uk.  I guess we'll know in a couple of hours.

Also, Chelsea's Michael Essien has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving (the Brit term).  He wouldn't have played against Liverpool anyway due to accumulated yellows.  He's been bailed until July "pending inquiries."

I saw the ManU game and highlights of Chelsea/Newcastle.........this was the first clear evidence that these teams have worn down to me.  Neither looked energetic and both got what they deserved and maybe more.

With the tough fixture list for both squads in the next 3 weeks, there will be a twist or two in the Premiership title race.  Pretty fun to watch for a change, lately its been over pretty early.

If anyone bothers to follow the Championship League, its down to 3 teams within 2 points of each other with 2 to play.   Birmingham, Sunderland, Derby at 83, 82 and 81 points..........plus there are 7 other teams within 2 points of the last 3 playoff spots.

The line-up is announced.  Richardson is not on the pitch, but is on the substitute bench along with: Eagles, Fangzhou, Kuszczak, Lee, Smith, and Solskjaer

Starting:

G - Van der Sar
D - Brown
D - Evra
D - Heinze
D - O'Shea
M - Carrick
M - Fletcher
M - Giggs
M - Ronaldo
M - Scholes
F - Rooney


If ManU stumbles, it will be due to a fresh Filipo Inzaghi coming of the bench in the second half.

5th minute: Ronaldo head a corner directly at Dida, who palms it up in the air and into the net.  Officially an OG, but a great way to begin for ManU.

Kaka with a goal to tie it up in the 21st minute.  ManU is on, but their lack of defense may pose a problem, especially late.