Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, said earlier this week that Javier Mascherano was the new Roy Keane. In attempting to live up to his manager’s expectations, the Argentinian failed rather badly, by evoking only the bad side of the former United captain. Mascherano got himself sent off in the first half.
Liverpool fans would have you believe that this was the reason Manchester United beat them. But few would have any doubts which the better side on the day was, if only by a few notches when it was eleven against eleven. United look good to take the title.
Arsenal face off against Chelsea shortly. The Gunners are on 67 points; Chelsea, the hosts, have 65. To a United fan, the acceptable outcome would be if Arsenal fail to win. The best result would be a draw would put Arsenal 5 points behind United, with Chelsea being 7 adrift and almost out of the race. If Chelsea win, they would pip Arsenal into second spot, still 5 points behind United. However, of the two, the Gunners have the tougher run-in (three games against Liverpool in a week; United away the week after). Chelsea have an easier Champions League tie, and some games against the relegation battlers too. So if I could pick a result, I would a draw.
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Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United
The referee was a disgrace…Yes, Mascherano did himself no favors by constantly chirping away despite being on 1 yellow card.. but fact is, Torres was being kicked about without any protection and when he points this out to Bennett, he gets booked for dissent.. and when Mascherano asks the same question, he also gets booked for dissent.. Who does Bennet think he is? A fri&^ing schoolteacher…Man, this is a high pressure game and give some leeway to these players to show how they feel…
With Arsenal losing to Chelsea, it looks like the league is headed to Old Trafford…I just cant wait for the CL to restart.. Am praying to all known gods for Roma to knock the stuffing off Utd….
I won’t call the referee a disgrace (as a Mancunian, why would I?), but yes, he was wrong about Torres. However, given the happenings in midweek, something was bound to happen over the weekend. And Mascherano chose the wrong side of Roy Keane to emulate that day.
I still think Chelsea might pull something out of the bag, and make this race closer than it is currently. Had United drawn Fenerbahce and Chelsea, Roma, I would have felt this one was surely in the bag.
I am looking at the remaining fixtures for Chelsea and Man U. In my reading, Chelsea have only two tough games – Everton and Man United, the latter at home. United still have to play Villa (h), Arsenal (h), Blackburn (a), Chelsea (a) and West Ham (h). None of these is a pushover.
As for your prayers, good luck! Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the footballing god, so let’s see.