The Final Showdown

May 11 2008, it all ends.

The Barclays Premier League is closing to the final stages and the competition is as fierce as ever with Manchester United and Chelsea tied in first place but Manchester United leading with a big goal difference.

Chelsea fades away~

Tomorrow Manchester United will be up against Wigan and Chelsea against Bolton. They will be played at the same time which is 11pm Malaysian time. Tomorrow, all players will be on top of their game for the final battle, all fans will be the 12th player for their respective teams to cheer them on.

I'm so excited.

Not this year Chelsea, Not this year!

Wigan's boss, Steve Bruce vows that his team will give 100% against United tomorrow but he also asked Chelsea to forget about the title.

I'm so so excited.

Revenge.

Two weeks later, Manchester United will again face Chelsea for the ultimate final showdown for the UEFA Champions League cup in Moscow! Speculations say that since Russia is home to Roman Abromovich which is Chelsea's owner, they will certainly win the cup.

I doubt that.

On that day, i will be in my red jersey, cheering hard for my team, watch out Chelsea.

Glory glory Manchester United !

Oh Kay, 8 Points Clear Before Christmas !

what i obtained this week : my sweetie bluree bear !

The best pre-christmas present for Sir Alex Ferguson, 8 points up on the table and 8 points clear of Chelsea. Seems like the English took a liking of the number 8 as it means Prosperity in Cantonese.

Yes, Arsenal drawed Chelsea just now. Arsenal should have just won the game but frankly speaking, Chelsea could have grab the winner BUT luck was on Arsenal's side for Chelsea struck the post TWICE in 90th minute. As Chelsea seems to the more lively side, Arsenal was just praying for time to end. Without the presence of Thierry Henry, Arsenal's game are in a way, not like what they use to do anymore. With passes out to the wings, likes of Adebayor and Hleb were unable to produce the attacking formula that Arsenal once possesed. A shot wide from Van Persie is all he got as he was substituted later.

Mourinho decided it was time for a gameplan change as he substituted Robben and Wright-Phillips. Robben prove to be the vicious one as he nearly scored twice. Both wings of Chelsea definitely put more pressure on Arsenal. The most funny part of the game would be the clash between Drogba and Lehmann. As Drogba was clearly fouled in the Arsenal's penalty box, the Refferey didn't see it Drogba's way. As Drogba walked away, saying something, Lehmann just had to push him in the back. Of course Drogba wasn't feeling quite happy about it and he had to hit Lehmann back, which the incident see both players getting yellow carded. How childish of both.

Arsenal had to get comfortable in the zone of Chelsea's half to produce a goal from Flamini, which was short lived as Essien's stunning goal which may just be the goal of the week. The game from the 85th minute was definitely enjoyable as Arsenal had some close calls because of a blunder by Lehmann. He definitely did something to the post as strikes from Essien and Lampard struck it.

Perhaps the most unsporting, or maybe too sporting player would be Ashley Cole, who is facing his Ex-Club. He definitely showed no respect towards his ex-players nor his fans. Sadly.

Still, we Manchester United fans are happy being on top of the table.

And YES, we've won Benfica 3 - 1, Topped Group F and proceed to the Last 16 in the Champions League.

"We've been playing some good football but have also grinded out some excellent results. We've got the balance just about right, we just need to carry that form forward now."- Ryan Giggs

You're the Man, Giggs.

=========== Football Talk Stops Here ===========

The week has been alright. Mid Term's up. Having one more paper this week, or two. Time flies seriously. For a while it was Monday, and now it's another Monday. I've been procrastinating, assignment not done, have a presentation coming up. And i'm sitting here blogging. *evil*

Maybe i'm a little too carefree. I should be pushing myself more. I definitely don't want to fail any of my subjects this semester. Considering Economics, Calculus and Algebra and Information Systems, which aren't my favourite subjects.

Christmas is near, and i would be celebrating it without my family. Well, i still have my friends but this would be the first time i'm celebrating Christmas out of home. Everything has it's first. *Wonders*. As i love christmas, i just wished that it would snow here. I've never seen snow before, only artificial ones. Made out of soap bubbles. =/

All right, It's already 3am and my class is at 10am in the morning. 6 hours to sleep.

signin off.

and i know it's a wonderful world.

Match Highlights - Man Utd 3 - Everton 0

Manchester United Most Classiest Performance Of The Season, With Players Like Vidic, Giggs, Scholes on the bench, Manchester United Still Proof That The Spirit Is There To Win The Premiership Title. Three Cheers For Man United !

Game Report: United 1 - Chelsea 1

For me, Man Utd Should Have Won..

Report from www.manutd.com

United fans didn't know whether to laugh or cry after seeing their team maintain a three-point lead over Chelsea but miss a golden opportunity to double it.

The Reds led at half-time through Louis Saha's exquisite strike but were then pegged back with Ricardo Carvalho's equalising header with 20 minutes remaining. At the final whistle, it seemed a better result for the Blues as they celebrated in front of their travelling fans.

Sir Alex Ferguson kept faith with the eleven who dictated but lost the game in Glasgow – his strongest eleven in many people’s eyes. Chelsea’s team, however, showed two changes from Wednesday’s defeat to Werder Bremen - Frank Lampard and Ricardo Carvalho returning at the expense of Joe Cole and Khalid Boulahrouz.

Chelsea kicked off attacking the Stretford End, to a cacophony of boos as they negatively worked the ball back from Didier Drogba and Andriy Shevchenko in the centre circle to skipper John Terry at the heart of their defence.

The visitors’strong-arm tactics surfaced inside the first sixty seconds when Michael Ballack’s shoulder caught Cristiano Ronaldo in the face. From the resulting free-kick, Wayne Rooney was first to Ronaldo’s cross but his header was unfortunately as wayward as Chelsea’s marking. Germany captain Ballack was caught up in controversy again moments later when Nemanja Vidic was left on the deck clutching his visage – however, referee Howard Webb decided the injured party had committed the offence and awarded the free-kick to Chelsea.

Webb was far busier than either of the goalkeepers in the opening 15 minutes as the two sides tested each other’s mettle in midfield with some full-blooded challenges – Cole on Ronaldo, and Rooney on Makelele to name just two. But the South Yorkshire ref sensibly resisted the use of his cards until Makelele used his upper arm to thwart United’s attempts at a quick counter-attack in the 20th minute. Before that, Ballack’s handball was only punished by a free-kick. Ronaldo struck it with power, but straight down the middle, enabling Carlo Cudicini to push the ball over the bar without too much strain.

Cudicini was well beaten, however, by Louis Saha’s wonderful finish in the 29th minute. Chelsea’s midfield seemed to open up as Rooney played a pass from the centre circle into his strike partner’s path and although both Terry and Carvalho were back behind the ball, Saha kept his head and picked his spot, curling a low shot inside the base of Cudicini’s left-hand post.
This moment of beauty was followed by an ugly episode, Drogba planting his elbow into Vidic’s face as the two players jumped for a header. Not having the benefit of TV replays, Webb waved only a yellow when really a red was warranted.

Unfortunately for Chelsea, their first decent chance fell not to Drogba but to Geremi – to his credit, the right-back got his shot on target and van der Sar was forced to fist it away. The Dutchman’s next save saw him dive the other way, to clutch Lampard’s low drive to the right.
Geremi made way for Mourinho’s first substitute at half-time, Arjen Robben. It was an attacking change by the Blues boss but it was United who took the bull by the horns. The Reds came agonisingly close to doubling their lead when Rooney picked up Carrick’s reverse pass on the left flank, shrugged off Drogba to burst into the box and pulled the ball back for Saha or Ronaldo. Both men snatched at it, the Portuguese in particular could have buried it at the far post.

The battle for midfield supremacy claimed another name for the referee’s book in the 54th minute as the excellent Carrick for once mistimed his movement and tripped his England team-mate Frank Lampard.

Chelsea were enjoying a larger share of possession but two attempts to beat van der Sar in the space of a minute failed to find their target, Lampard firing a shot across goal and Drogba heading wide under pressure from Ferdinand. At the other end, Carvalho cleared a loose ball after Ronaldo chested down Heinze’s left-wing cross and Cudicini parried a fierce shot from Giggs on the right.

Carvalho the goal-saver turned goalscorer in the 69th minute when he leapt to meet Lampard’s corner from the right and powered in a header which hit Saha on the line and came down off the crossbar. TV replays later showed Saha had himself headed the ball – he could yet be credited with an unwanted owngoal by the dubious goals committee.

United immediately tried to bite back, but Terry blocked Saha’s shot and when Scholes hit a trademark thunderbolt on the rebound, it spun off the grounded Saha and out for a goal-kick.
With fifteen minutes to go, Mourinho again demonstrated his strength in depth by replacing Shevchenko with attacking midfielder Joe Cole.

Joe’s namesake Ashley had his name taken for a cynical foul on Ronaldo – and then chanted in derogatory terms by the angered home crowd. Cristiano played no further part – Giggs whipped the free-kick into the box, punched away by Cudicini, following a double substitution of Fletcher for Ronaldo and O’Shea for Saha.

So Mourinho’s men remain three points behind United and with two tough games to come in the Premiership. On Wednesday night, they travel to Bolton where both Liverpool and Arsenal have lost this season. Then, after a weekend without a game, they face the Gunners at Stamford Bridge on 10 December – by then United’s lead could be in double figures.