What: English Premier League
Who: Manchester United (1st; 73 points) vs Chelsea (2nd; 70 points)
When: Sunday 8th May, 2011, at 16:10 UK time
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
Time to Wrap-Up the Title
Having strolled past Schalke in the semi-final of the Champions League, booking a date with Barcelona in the process, United now turn their attention to the pressing matter of wrapping up the Premier League title. With Chelsea having drawn to within three points of their rivals, Sir Alex Ferguson knows this is a chance for his side to quickly put down the Blues’ resurgence before it can pick up further steam.
And United defender Chris Smalling has reassured his team-mates that, despite Chelsea closing the gap, the title remains in their hands.
“It’s going to be a massive game on Sunday”, said Smalling. “They’ve caught us up but with three games left, it’s definitely in our hands. All season we’ve been really good at home and hopefully that will carry on. We’re all really confident.”
Should United take the three points then Chelsea’s incipient trophy surge will surely ebb away. At Old Trafford and with a Champions League final berth helping to boost morale, Ferguson’s side look perfectly placed to cement top spot.
Brink of Hope
Largely ruled out of the Premier League contest in the past few months, Chelsea have somehow rallied in the league race, eager to defend the title they won at Manchester United’s expense last year. With just three points and three fixtures remaining, the 2011 Premier League is as good as it can possibly get. And Chelsea know full well that nothing other than a win at this point will salvage their league campaign.
After coming back from being so far adrift, high hopes exist around Stamford Bridge, with the prospect of causing an upset up north to turn the tide in Chelsea’s favour on the menu. One player who will be anticipating the match in high spirits is winger Florent Malouda, having been one of the Blues’ better players this term: “All we could do was win all our matches and hope United dropped points to let us back in the title race. In these games, there is a lot of pressure but it is in the big games that you see our players’ character. We enjoy these games. We have to make sure we play at our best level."
One ponder for Carlo Ancelotti is how to deploy Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba. While Drogba has looked happier in recent weeks to pull to the right and allow Torres to go through the middle, there is still a sense that this is a Blues frontline learning how to play together. Can it click at Old Trafford?
Recent form
Manchester United:
Schalke 0-2 Manchester United
(26/04; Champions League)
Arsenal 1-0 Manchester United
(01/05; Premier League)
Manchester United 4-1 Schalke
(04/05; Champions League)
Chelsea:
Chelsea 3-1 Birmingham City
(20/04; Premier League)
Chelsea 3-0 West Ham
(23/04; Premier League)
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (30/04; Premier League)
Key absences
Manchester United: Owen Hargreaves
Chelsea: None
Players to watch
Manchester United – Nemanja Vidic: A draw would be a good result for United, and against Chelsea, things could become ugly in a hurry should the home side’s defence be caught napping. Having had horrible times whenever he faced Fernando Torres, Nemanja Vidic will be hoping to put his fears to rest when the Serbian faces the league holders in this exciting bout.
Chelsea – Fernando Torres: The £50M striker finally opened his account against Birmingham City nearly a fortnight ago after having endured a horrible drop in form that saw him make headlines for the wrong reasons. The former Liverpool man was expected to spark to life when the two met in the Champions League, but having failed to do so will try to make amends this time around.
Match Prediction
This game could in many ways be the realistic end to this year’s Premier League title fight. Manchester United have been impressive of late, except for the loss to Arsenal, while Chelsea have shown signs of being the team they once were under Carlo Ancelotti last year. The momentum appears to be right in the middle between the two and as such, a 1-1 scoreline would be a reasonable outcome.
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