UNITED ON BRINK OF TITLE
(Image taken from Manutd.com)
United had already faced Chelsea in the Premiership this season but the Blues beat us 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. That win was the spark that eventually reignited the reigning champions defence of their title so that while we're still Premiership leaders, they have become out biggest challengers. Furthermore having already been beaten by one of our main rivals in our last league encounter we certainly needed to put away the Blues in this Premiership match at Old Trafford. United went 4-4-2. Fabio at right back, Vidic(captain) and Rio central defence, Valencia right mid, Giggsy and Carrick centre mid, Park left mid, Wayne and Hernandez up front.
Well Giggsy set up Hernandez. 1-0 United. 36 seconds. After that well, it was all United really, the Blues didn't seem to know what hit them and could have been buried very early on but were seemingly too busy arguingwith each other to do much about it. Then in the 23rd minute came a short corner from Giggs to Park who crossed to Vidic who headed it in with the Chelsea defence braindead. The reigning champions did have their uses before half time but overall this was pretty much the perfect first half for United fans. Carlo Ancelotti had his work cut out to find a way to pull this one round in the second half and United already seemed to have one hand on the trophy.
The Reds seemed to pick up where they left off for the early stages of the second half but weren't able to get themselves a third goal and the Blues weren't done themselves. Sure enough out of nowhere came a Ramires cross which Bransislav Ivanovic headed to Frank Lampard in the 68th minute and the England midfielder hit the net. We still had plenty of opportunities to bury the reigning champions once and for all but ultimately were able to do so. Ultimately though it didn't matter - the Reds were by far the better team on the day and it was ultimately mission accomplished. If the Blues have lost the ability to win league titles, we have reminded them how it is done.
So, United not only still lead the Premiership but extend their lead over nearest challengers Chelsea to six points. The Premiership title has not been won yet but with just two games to go Chelsea are the only side that have a hope of overhauling us and even they've got their work cut out. OK so it leaves us with the wierd prospect of us claiming the Premiership title on FA Cup final day but what are we meant to do about the fixture list? The fact is that while Chelsea still don't technically have to bow down to us yet, they are going to have to. The Premiership trophy is returning to Old Trafford, it's just a matter of time. And no one can claim we haven't earned it.
Going down a level, congratulations to QPR who've won the Championship title to regain Premiership status for the first time since the 95/96 season. They nearly had the title taken off them due to a registration issue but the FA were in a good mood, allowing them to lift the trophy. Norwich have arguably pulled off a greater achievement bu going from L1 to the Premiership in two seasons. It'll be the Canaries first appearance in the top flight since 04/05. Welcome back to both sides though it'll be wierd having QPR back in the Premiership 15 years after I taunted a PE teacher that it would be his team's last ever season in the Premiership!
Going down a level, well what was Exeter City's Li season like. Well for a lot of Grecian fans it'll be remembered for the wrong reasons due to assasin Adam Stanfield dying of cancer at age 27. Yet that would be doing their season an injustice. With Paul Tisdale deciding to hang around at St James Park despite surely having earned enough credibility to get a bigger job, City had a pretty gloomy start to the season. Yet it wasn't long before they were giving the bigger names in the division some serious headaches and found themselves in the mixer for a playoff spot, only missing out on that by the skin of their teeth. Still, 8th place in English football's third tier, that makes this the club's best league campaign of all time, and the club has been going since 1904 - great stuff!
North of the border, Aberdeen continue winding down their SPL campaign and winding down seems to be the operative word. They were beaten 2-0 by St Johnstone at Pittodrie with an early own goal not doing the Dons any favours and the Saints got a second goal late in the game. Then the Dons were beaten again by Pittodrie, this time 1-0 by St Mirren. The visitors got themselves a second half winner with the Reds unable to breach the opposition defence. That means that the Dons remain 10th in the SPL with a game to go. Again it hasn't been the greatest of seasons to be a Dons fan but hopefull the Reds together for a decent end of the season.
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