ADVANTAGE UNITED
(Image taken from Manutd.com)
So, United had faced Chelsea at Old Trafford but failed to beat them. Which meant that we were now reliant on making sure we kept winning against the Premiership's lesser teams. Both us and the Blues faced potential banana skins in the week following the summit clash. United did themselves a favour by finally boosting our strike force, Fergie managing to sign Henrik Larsson for three months on loan from Helsingborgs while the Scandinavian season takes a winter break. A very smart move - if Larsson can do a job for Barcelona in his mid 30s then he can do a job for us!
Before that though, there was a rare mid-week Premiership program with Everton visiting Old Trafford. David Moyes's side certainly looked like giving us a match to start with untill Ronaldo slammed in a scorcher for United's opener. Evra made it two, scoring his first goal for United after burning the vistors' defence single handed to secure the three points with John O'Shea making it 3-0 near the end of a match that admittedly always looked like a straightforward win though.
In the meantime, Chelsea had the harder tak of getting three points out of the Reebok Stadium, Bolton having cut down their share of big guns this season already and they tested the Cocky One's crew out early on but the visitors still came into half time 1-0 up thanks to Michael Ballack. Bolton gave it all they had in the second half and stayed in the game till the end but Mourinho should have been satisfied with what was a needed three points - his team weren't playing on the weekend.
United were though, but it was a visit to Middlesbrough and the last time we visited the Riverside on Premiership business we got caned. Not so this time though though, even if Gareth Southgate did think Saha only got to open the scoring with a first half penalty thanks to a Ronaldo dive. Either way, James Morrison did equalise for the home side only for Fletcher to hit the winner soon afterwards. That leaves United six points clear of Chelsea at the top of the table but the Blues have a game in hand.
North of the border, Aberdeen faced a trip to Celtic Park. The odds on getting a win out of this game were never going to be good but the crowd were still treated to a game that at half time looked to be summed up with the old phrase 'nae goals nae fitba'. Celtic did have the edge though and it was Marciej Zurawski who hit the winner. Neither side brought their A game for this match and that should dissapoint the Dons more than the result.
Elsewhere, the main relevant result was Falkirk beating Rangers 1-0 at the Falkirk Stadium. Hearts have slid down to sixth place with Kilmarnock taking fifth after a 5-1 win over Dunfirmline at Rugby Park. The Dons remain in third though, three points ahead of Killie and still level on points with the second place Gers but with a -1 goal difference deficit. Celtic extend their lead on top of the SPL to sixteen points. Title race? What title race?
Back south of the border and down a few levels, it was the FA Cup 2nd round on the weekend but with both Brentford and Exeter officially history in this year's competition, the only match that was of any interest whatsoever for me was the all-L2 clash which had Bury drawing 2-2 with my sister(and tribe's) hometown club Chester, forcing a replay at the Deva Stadium with a home game against Ipswich in the 3rd round for the winners. In the meantime United certainly don't have a straightforward tie. It's at Old Trafford but it's against Premiership opposition in the form of Aston Villa.
Before we can think of that though, we have Champions League business to take care of.
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