UNITED CLOSING IN

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

Well after losing our last Premiership match, United's season moved into December with Arsenal started to open up a gap on top of the table. With the Gunners still having a game in hand United faced in theory straight forward home games in the Premiership. Then again, given some of this season's results we weren't in a position to take anything for granted. Still, we needed six points out of two games to stay in the mixer, question was, could we get them?

The first Premiership visitor to Old Trafford was Fulham. Ronaldo opened the scoring pretty quickly but though the Fulham goal got hammered, we weren't able to get a second before half time. Ronaldo headed in his second goal in the second half and after that, they only reason why we didn't score more was due to the fact that we missed a load of chances! Fulham had the odd opportunity of their own but these were our three points and it was on to the next game.

Derby were the next team to visit Old Trafford in what turned out to be a drenching at least in terms of rain. Derby tried to use the conditions to mudwrestle us but we've learned our lesson there. Giggsy opened the scoring, Tevez then got two goals and from that point it was game over. Derby managed to get some pride back though, Steve Howard pulling one back late on but even then United had the last word, Ronaldo slotting in a penalty.

Elsewhere well Arsenal beat Villa 2-1 at Villa Park but then their form fell apart. They blew their game in hand by drawing 1-1 with Newcastle at St James's Park before getting beatan 2-1 by Middlesborough at the Riverside. City have finally run out of fuel though, drawing 1-1 with Wigan at the JJB stadium before getting beaten 2-1 by Spurs at White Hart Lane. It's Chelsea that have taken advantage of that, beating West Ham 1-0 and Sunderland 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. So United remain in 2nd in the Premiership, now just one point behind leaders Arsenal but only two points ahead of the surging Chelsea and a detour through the Champions League preliminaries.

North of the border, Aberdeen had a couple of SPL games. The first was a 3-1 win over Hibs at Pittodrie with the Dons turning on the class to come from behind. They stayed at Pittodrie for their next game, and once again had to turn things round to pull off a 2-1 win over Kilmarnock with the Dons netting twice in the second half. That allowed Jimmy Calderwood's crew to move up to 6th in the SPL, five points away from 3rd placed Motherwell and a garunteed UEFA Cup spot though four points clear of 7th placed Hearts and the bottom half of the table.

Aberdeen did take the week off UEFA Cup Group B action, leaving their long term fate in the competition in other's hands. FC Copenhagen were beaten 2-0 by Athletico Madrid at the Parkenstadion while Panathinaikos beat Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0 at the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium. Neither result was a shock. It was also good news for the Pittodrie crew. The Dons remain in 5th in the group but are only two points behind 3rd place FC Copenhagen so are still in the mixer going into the final night!

In other groups, well in Group G Spurs drew 1-1 with Anderlecht at the Constant Vancan Stock Stadium(Spurs remain top of the group). In Group F Bolton beat Red Star Belgrade 1-0 at the Cvena Zvezda Stadium(Bolton rise to the top of their group). In Group A Everton beat Zenit ST Petersburg at Goodison Park(Everton still top their group). Everton and Spurs are garunteed a spot in the knockout stages with one round of games to go.

Going up a level, there was some Champions League action last week. In Group D AC Milan faced Celtic in the San Siro. The Serie A team looked to be better than a nervy Celtic but where unable to take advantage though the Celts had few opportunities of their own. Turning up the heat led to Filipo Inzaghi hitting the winner for Milan though. That means that Celtic finish in second place in the group, two points ahead of third place Benefica and have booked their place in the knockout stages despite finishing four points behind group winners AC Milan.

The reason that group ended a week early was due to AC Milan's participation in the Club World Cup. The quarter finals for that tournament have already happened. Etoile Sahel beat Pachuca 1-0 in the Tokyo Olympic Stadium while at the Toyota Stadium, Urawa Red Diamonds beat Sepahan 3-1(the Iranian side having previously beaten Waitakere United in a preliminary). AC Milan will face Uwara Red Diamonds in the semi finals at the Yokohama stadium.

Back to domestic affairs and in the FA Cup 2nd round, Exeter faced Bury at Gigg Lane. The Grecians put up a solid performance visiting L2 opposition and came in at half time still with a clean sheet. Bury stepped up a gear in the second half though and while Exeter still looked to hold Bury out and force a replay, but they caved when Nicky Adams hit what turned out to be the winner for the home side, ending City's Cup dreams for another season.

In the 3rd round United enter the competition and we've been drawn against Villa at Villa Park. It's the second season is a row that we've faced Villa at this stage of the competition and our 8th all-Premiership FA Cup tie in a row. Facing Martin O'Neill's side at their place won't be straightforward but then again we've already hammered them there in the Premiership this season so there's nothing stopping us from making round 4.

North of the border, the Scottish Cup has reached the 4th round and it's only now that Aberdeen will get involved. The Dons face an all-SPL tie vs Falkirk at the Falkirk Stadium. Given the Dons iffy form and the fact that their only SPL meeting with Falkirk this season led to a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie it's probably not Jimmy Calderwood's ideal draw but on current form they should make round 5. It just depends which Dons side turns up. I'm not counting chickens though.

Champions League action to finish off this week.

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