Title Race Reopened?

A very interesting round of midweek Prem matches has the football world number-crunching: with 5 games left to play, Chelsea have pulled themselves into second place, leapfrogging Arsenal on goal difference. Both London clubs are on 64 points, 6 back of United. What's more: United must play both clubs-- Arsenal away, Chelsea at Old Trafford. If you can't do the math, I'll help: if United lose both of those games, that's six points dropped.

Still, even the most romantic Gunners or Blues fan would have to admit it is United's title to lose, which is something Fergie doesn't do. United very rarely lose in the final months of the season, particularly when they are in pole position. One could make the argument that this United team is considerably weaker than the Red Devils historically have been, particularly on the road. Check out this statistic to demonstrate that point:

MAN. UNITED
HOME: 15 W, 1 D, 0 L: 46/48 Possible points.

AWAY: 5 W, 9 D, 3 L: 24/51 Possible points.

Chelsea have the best form at the moment, with Arsenal pulling a-- well, an Arsenal-- and coughing up the lead THREE TIMES against Spurs yesterday in a fantastic London Derby. With all these factors, will United cough up the lead in the final five games? And if so, to who?

Let's look at their run-ins, in reverse order (for suspense)..

Arsenal:

Bolton (A), Sunday 24 April
Man Utd (H), Sunday 1 May
Stoke (A), Sunday 8 May
Aston Villa (H), Sunday 15 May
Fulham (A), Sunday 22 May

The Stoke and Bolton away fixtures are the games that Arsenal ALWAYS struggle with, and I don't see that changing in a squad with a completely deflated mentality. I think they'll draw at home against United, and lose to Stoke away. Draw at struggling Bolton, squeaking out wins against Fulham and Villa. TOTAL: 8 pts.

Chelsea:

West Ham (H), Saturday 23 April
Tottenham (H), Saturday 30 April
Man Utd (A), Sunday 8 May
Newcastle (H), Sunday 15 May
Everton (A), Sunday 22 May

Chelsea are hitting form at the pivotal moment, and their run in is the easiest. They'll have a big win against West Ham and crucially win at home against Spurs. I think they'll show up charged for the United game, but it won't be enough, only ending in a draw. A win against Newcastle, and a draw against Everton away to round out a relatively disappointing season. TOTAL: 11 pts.

Manchester United:

Everton (H), Saturday 23 April
Arsenal (A), Sunday 1 May
Chelsea (H), Sunday 8 May
Blackburn (A), Saturday 14 May
Blackpool (H), Sunday 22 May

The Arsenal and Chelsea fixtures will be difficult, but Ferguson will scrape draws in both. Everton will fight hard but lose at Old Trafford. The two relegation threatened teams at the end of the fixture list will be tough, but not tough enough. Two wins. TOTAL: 11 pts. So..

FINAL TABLE

1) Man United: 81 points

2) Chelsea: 75 points

3) Arsenal: 72 points

And just for fun:

4) Man City

5) Tottenham

There you have it: the end of an exciting season, as I see it. We'll see how it all shakes down. Props to Jose Mourinho on the Copa del Rey crown, who one day will rightfully own the title of the best football coach ever. And to Gareth Bale, who took home the PFA Player of the Year despite fading in recent months.

Feel free to share your comments!

Midweek Matches: Recap & Review

Some big games this midweek in the Prem! First and foremost, title challengers Chelsea met Portsmouth, a club whose fate as relegation fodder has been sealed for some time. On paper, this fixture is a snoozefest, but Chelsea’s worrying dip in form lately meant that 3 pts from this match were absolutely vital. Beyond that, it’s always interesting to see a manager take on his former club, as Avram “the Grump” Grant did on Wednesday. But this one had no surprises, as the Blues ran out with a confidence boosting 5-0 victory. Drogba and Malouda each had braces, as Lamps rounded out the scoring with his head in the final minutes.

The ever-intriguing race for 4^th had some big matches on Wednesday too, as Man City hosted the Toffees. A well-organized Everton finished 2-0 up, but the most interesting bit of this match was Mancini’s touch line bust-up with David Moyes. Moyes took just a little too long giving the ball back to a City player late in the game, and Mancini barged into the Everton gaffer, before the altercation got both managers sent off. Personally, I wouldn’t fancy Mancini in that one, nor would I like to go toe to toe with the gruff Scot.

Villa had a chance to boost their Champions League hopes as Sunderland came to visit, but Steve Bruce’s impressive side held on to come away with a point after Frazier Campbell’s earlier effort was cancelled out by the on-form Carew. On a side-note, no goals for DBent in this one, who is one of the most under-rated players in the Prem—at least in my humble opinion.

Blackburn Rovers also continued their remarkable run of form at home against Birmingham City, winning 2-1. In the FA Cup, ‘Arry’s Spurs sent Fulham crashing out with three 2^nd half goals, but they still have Europa League aspirations after last week’s incredible triumph over Juventus.

As mentioned on Monday, Zola’s problems continued with a horrible loss at home to Wolves, 3-1. The Hammers only goal came in stoppage time, and the Upton Park faithful were calling for the manager’s head long before then. David Gold has asked for patience and support for Zola from the fans, but this problem isn’t going away.

Rooney, Messi, and the still Special Mourinho

It’s been over a year since the last blog post, but Wrong Side of the Atlantic is going to come back with a bang. And how could it not? We’re in the midst of the most gripping Premier League season in recent memory and the World Cup is just about 2 months away.

So let’s get cracking.

Over in the EPL/BPL/Best-League-in-the-World, it’s a three horse race, again. And although I have REFUSED to admit it until now, Arsenal are genuine contenders. True, they generally hit the stumbling blocks in the next couple of weeks, but they certainly don’t look like it. One thing that sets them apart from Utd and Chels: no talisman striker. You can choose to look at this as a blessing, because they’re not over-reliant on one player (see: Manchester United, who look like a pub team when Rooney’s not on the pitch), or a curse, because they don’t have a player who is consistently getting them that magic mark of a goal every two games. Somehow or another, the Gunners are keeping up, despite their own Nicklas Bendtner’s best attempts to miss every shot on goal he gets.

On the other side of London, the Blues have just come through their worst week this season. Bear in mind; if this is your first time reading this blog; I am a die-hard Chelsea fan. I make no apologies, for I am a firm believer that I can give objective, genuine analysis while still overtly supporting my boys. Although they have been breaking my little heart lately… in the past 7 days, Chels have crashed out of the Champions League at the hands of our old gaffer, Jose Mourinho, and then dropped two VITAL points in the title race against lowly Blackburn Rovers. Now, the Inter loss I can take. Don’t get me wrong, I’m dying for Champions League success just as much as JT is. But it was almost nice to get knocked out by a team who simply outplayed us, instead of dumped out by a dubious call or a 94^th minute goal.

The Rovers draw is the one I can’t understand. Many pundits said in the lead-up, and the post match, that winning in Lancashire isn’t easy, particularly when Big Sam plays with such negative tactics. But the bottom line is this: after an early Drog goal, we went to sleep. It’s well publicized that the instinct to kill off teams is crucial in a title challenge, and we didn’t have it.

This becomes increasingly worrying for one reason: Rooney. The guy is literally unplayable. The worst part of it all is that he decided he want to start scoring WITH HIS HEAD. Old Shrek is about 5 foot nothing, and built like a garden gnome, but somehow, he’s plunking in buckets of goals from his rapidly-receding hairline. My not-so-bold prediction: if he stays fit, Rooney eclipses Ronaldo’s 42 goal mark.

Finally, I would be a fool to post this without mentioning Leo Messi. Let me give you some numbers on Messi:

· 11 goals in his last FIVE games. Including two hat tricks… in as many games.

· 34 goals in all competitions. (Rooney has 33)

· 5’ 7”. 148 lbs. 22 years old.

This is what his manager, Pep Guardiola, has to say about Lionel. And check out his goals against Valencia, particularly the first one.

Poor old Droggy would be leading the fight for the Footballer of the Year any other season, but plain and simple, it’s gonna be a dead sprint between the Argentine and the Scouser, which should make for some beautiful viewing in South Africa. Keep checking back in the coming weeks for all you need to know from the world of football, and please leave your comments without hesitation.

ALSO: take a second and go check out my good friend Jon's blog, The 7 Day Weekend. Probably the funniest/most random/addicting blog I've stumbled upon yet.