A Big Test Awaits United At Anfield

Manchester United is travelling to Anfield on this Saturday to play against Liverpool. If United wins, they will extend their lead to 12 points over Chelsea, who face Pompey's at Frattom Park later that day. But winning over Liverpool will be a huge task for the Red Devils. Liverpool comes with big wins under their belt especially after defeating Barcelona in the last week Champions League. It will be a highly contested match and all over the world fans are eagerly waiting to see this thrilling match.

Last week United had a lucky escape at Fulham. The United played below average game and still were able to get out with a win, thanks to a late Ronaldo strike. The game ended 2-1, with the Fulham players and fans leaving disappointed after a wonderful performance. Even Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea coach responded to that game saying it was "completely undeserved".

Gigg's Lucky Goal

Ronaldo Scores the Winner against Fulham

Chelsea are trying hard to get back to the title race. At present they are 9 points behind at 60, but they have a game in hand. If Manchester United lose the game at Anfield, that will definitely give hopes to Mourinho and he will, for sure, do everything to retain the title.

At the bottom, things are looking really bad for the three teams - Charlton Athletic (23 points), Westham United (20 points) and Watford (19 points). Charlton is facing Watfor on Saturday in a clash of the relegation teams. Charlton seems to be the only team out of these three to make a progress and with lots of luck stay in the premiership next year. Its a distant possibility, but for them at least there is a possibility. For Westham and Watford, the season is almost over and they can now think about playing in the first division.

No Change in the Title Chase

Park Scores against Charlton

Both Man United and Chelsea won their respective games this weekend. United defeated relegation battlers, Charlton Athletic by two goals whereas Chelsea won at the expense of Middlesbrough ( 3-0)

Manchester United leads the table with 66 points followed by Chelsea who has 60 points. Liverpool holds the third place at a distance of 10 points as they have 50. Arsenal is just behind having secured 49 points with a narrow win over Wigan Athletic.

Giggs in action against Charlton

Gunners defeat the Devils in last 10 minutes

Henry Goal

Arsenal came from behind to win against Manchester United at the Emirates stadium in London 2-1. Arsenal's equaliser came on 83rd minute and the winner came late into the injury time.
The win will keep Arsenal one point behind Liverpool, at fourth place. But the confidence is high with the Gunners as they prepare to go for the last attempt to enter the title chase. They are still 12 points behind Manchester United, who are the undisputed leaders till this time in the season.

United played the team game from the start. But Arsenal had the edge during most of the first half. It was after the break, that the stadium saw the real Manchester United, as they show more hunger for goals. Larsson and Rooney caused problems in the shaky defence of Arsenal and it paid off with a wonderful header from Rooney. He scored on the 53rd minute from a cross from the left back, Patrice Evra. That was Rooney's first headed goal for Manchester United. Evra often caused problems as he moved up for attack. Ironically both Arsenal goals came from crosses from Evra's side of the pitch.

Robin Van Persie scored soon after he was introduced as a substitute. The cross from Henry was brilliant and the Manchester United defense was sleeping for a moment. The game seemed to be heading for a well deserved draw, when the winning goal came late into the injury time. This time Henry used his head to smash the ball into the top of Van der sar's net.

Sir Alex Ferguson left disappointed, having lost a chance to make the 9 points over Chelsea. But he can take some relief from the fact that they also lost their game against Liverpool yesterday. The difference between the two top teams still remains at 6 points.

Rooney's Celebration with Ferdinand

Van Persie Goal

Ronaldo in action against Hleb

Liverpool win add salt to the wound of Chelsea

Pennant's long range strike for the second goal

Rafael Benitez got everything right this time. For the first time in him career as the coach of Liverpool, he won against Chelsea. The two coaches came to the Premier League at the same time two years back, but all the attention were shifted to Mourinho as he led his team to the champions position in EPL. But today it was a different story. Trailing behind Manchester United for the title chase, Chelsea needed the win, but failed to do so.

Thanks to an early goal from Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool went ahead on 4th minute and dominated the game throughout. Chelsea played more like a team at the bottom of the table. The killer instinct was missing and more importantly there were players missing due to injury. The injury to John Terry is costing dear for this Chelsea team.

Jermaine Pennant scored the second goal on 18th minute from a beautiful strike. That sealed Chelsea's fate. Liverpool again dominated things in Anfield during the second half and they could've easily scored two more, but the strikers misfired on both occasions.

Mourinho's face was grim and it said it all. His own job is now in question, and that was visible in his face. If Manchester United will win against Arsenal tomorrow, then it will be over for Chelsea in the title chase. With this form, nobody thinks that Chelsea will fight back and go for the title once again.

Kuyt and Essien in action

Wins for the top two teams

Manchester United and Chelsea won their respective games against Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic on Saturday and after the game they are still separated by 6 points. Both had comfortable wins. Man United defeated Aston Villa at Villa Park by 3 goals to 1. Chelsea had a better home game against struggling Wigan who lost their sixth consecutive game in the premier league.

Arjen Robben was selected as the man of the match after the Chelsea - Wigan match. The one sided match saw Chelsea going ahead with a Lampard free kick on 13th minute. Krikland, the goal keeper of Wigan miscalculated the the slow curving shot from Lampard. It could have been easily saved if he moved a bit to the left, but he left it to his defenders to head and they did nothing, making Kirkland look like a comic character, when the ball slowly landed on the left corner of the goal. Wigan never recovered from that. Robben scored again in the 63rd minute. This time the blunder was created by a back pass from Haestad. The ball was meant for the goal keeper but reached Robben who dribbled it past the diving Kirkland to make it 2-0. He did another wonder on the 70th minute, his pass was diverted to the goal by Kirkland, another blunder by the goal keeper. The last blow came late into injury time. Drogba scored with a powerful header to make the score 4-0. Another humiliating defeat for Wigan as Paul Jewel, the manager, went to the dressing room, thinking what went wrong with his team this season.

Manchester United's away win against Villa is the third against them in four weeks. Villa were defeated in the FA cup last week by the Red Devils. This time the first goal was scored by Ji Sung Park. The South Korean Star scored after consecutive attempts and still the ball reaching him. That was on 11th minute. Two minute later, Park set up, Michael Carrick for his first goal for United. Ronaldo scored on the 35th minute, using his head, making it 3-0 before half time. The Villa came back after the break and promised a lot when Agbonlahor scored for them on the 52 minute. But that was the maximum they did. Manchester united showed their composure and skills and never allowed Villa to get back into the game.

Worrying Draw for Chelsea

Ashley Cole must be wondering, whats wrong with this Chelsea team

Chelsea had yet another draw and this is indeed worrying times for Jose Mourinho. The champions lose another two points against Aston Villa at the Villa park. Mourinho promised that his team will fight back in the second part of the season and will go for the Championship with all force. But it seems that something somewhere is wrong in this Chelsea team. Surprisingly they failed to score this time. In the last two draws, against Reading and Fulham, Chelsea did score two goals each, but drew both games because of defensive errors. This time Mourinho was determined to seal the defensive errors and he did succeed in that respect. But he had to compromise on the goals in front. For the first time this season they failed to score in a game and the eventual draw followed. Chelsea are now 6 points below the Red Devils and Sir Alex Ferguson is starting to have dreams of holding the title.

Geremi and Davis in action

Manchester United can be held

Goal from Paul Scholes

Paul Scholes scored twice against Newcastle united on New Year day, but still Manchester United fail to win the game. Thanks to the goal from teenager David Edgar on the 77th minute. Newcastle fetch one point out of a losing game. This means that Manchester united now has to wait for the Chelsea game tomorrow to find out how much is their lead. After this victory the lead is now 7 points, but Chelsea has a game in hand and they can easily reduce the margin to 4 points if they can win over Aston Villa.

Surprisingly, Newcastle united took the lead on the New Year day on 33rd minute. James Milner gave a lot to cheer for the capacity crowd in St.James' park until 40th minute, when the first Scholes strike came. Soon after the interval he scored again to put Red Devils into a 2-1 lead. Ironically, it was a deflection off the legs off the Scholes, that gave the draw to Newcastle on 77th minute. The long range shot took a significant deflection off Scholes, making Van der Sar helpless at the goal.

Rooney in action against Newcastle United's Scott Parker