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Mischa Wilmers' Sunday Column - Chelsea defeat out of the blue
All the big four teams were in action yesterday on a day which added yet another twist to an already intriguing title race.
After Man Utd's win away to West Ham, the pressure was on Chelsea to regain their five point lead at the top of the table in their late kick off against Man City. The game did not go as planned for the Blues as Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez scored as Chelsea crashed to a 2-1 defeat, their third of the season. Both sides produced plenty of chances in what was a fairly even game but ultimately Chelsea were made to pay for their missed opportunities. City manager Mark Hughes will have been encouraged by a particularly solid performance from his goalkeeper Shay Given who impressed throughout and saved a late penalty from Frank Lampard. Chelsea are all too aware that rivals Manchester United now lie just two points behind them at the top of the table. Coming into this game Carlo Ancelloti's side were in excellent form and in fairness Chelsea did not perform badly. Aside from the penalty miss, they had several opportunities to score, most notably when Didier Drogba was presented with a chance which the in form striker would normally have buried. Manchester City will be delighted with a result which strengthens their bid to finish in the top four.
Manchester United's 4-0 win against West Ham was once again a match which, in spite of the scoreline, the Reds did not dominate. Paul Scholes rolled back the years with a screamer before youngster Darren Gibson showed why some people are tipping him to become Scholes's long term replacement in the United side with a long range wondergoal. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson will also be pleased with Wayne Rooney who performed well and scored a goal which puts him top of the scorers list alongside Drogba and Jermaine Defoe. The Reds are now in an excellent position and with Liverpool.s 0-0 draw with Blackburn virtually ending what was left of Benitez's title hopes; it is looking increasingly like this might be a two horse race. For now however, Arsenal remain in contention following a 2-0 win against stoke.
Manchester City's defeat of Chelsea is the dominant headline in most of the Sunday papers. Carlos Tevez has stolen most of the headlines with The Observer's reading Tevez and Given justify City's lofty ambitions and the Sun dubbing the striker "Super Tev" in their title: Carlos KO's leaders as Lamps misses penalty. In The Telegraph Oliver Brown is also full of praise for Tevez writing the tireless Argentine direct all his derision at Chelsea with a winning free-kick that arrested City's run of seven straight draws. On the other hand in The Observer Paul Wilson blames Chelsea Goalkeeper Petr Cech for the loss: The goalkeeper was at fault for both goals, never looked commanding throughout, and with hindsight Chelsea may have been better off sticking with Henrique Hilário. And in The Sunday Times Malcolm Foley argues that whilst Manchester City were impressive, it was a match which highlighted Chelsea's shortcomings: In truth, Chelsea's troubles ran much deeper. Lampard, Michael Ballack and Deco were largely ineffectual in midfield, while it was hard to recall when Terry and his fellow defenders had spent a match so deep on the back foot.
Manchester United's win is called a stroll in the park in The Observer with David Hytner arguing that this was a return to form for United: If Sir Alex Ferguson's team have been erratic, at times, this season, flattering to deceive with some of their performances, this was a return to the slickness of old. It is a point which most of the papers agree with. However in The Mail on Sunday, Patrick Collins expresses his view that West Ham made it easy for United: It really should not be so easy at this level. However great the gap in class and resources, West Ham should be capable of making the better sides work for their reward. Nevertheless it is not all good news for United. The match saw them start with Darren Fletcher at right back with the list of injured defenders including Vidic, Ferdinand, O'Shea, and Evans. After yesterday's match, Gary Neville and Wes Brown were added to that list. With a Champions league game in midweek, Sir Alex Ferguson will be more than a little anxious about his defensive problems and it is looking increasingly likely that midfielder Michael Carrick will have to fill in at the back.
In other news The Telegraph is reporting that demand for tickets for the England USA match at next summer's World Cup has gone through the roof. This follows the World Cup draw on Friday in which England were drawn in the same group as the Americans. The article claims that FIFA released a million tickets on Saturday and this fixture has proven to be one of the most popular. The report quotes Nathan Wilson Nathan Wilson, managing director of Thompson Sport, who reportedly said: "As of Saturday morning, we have sold out half of all our packages. All our packages for the final are now sold out."
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