Arsenal 1-0 Manchester United: Chelsea right back into the title race
Manchester United put on one of their worst away performances of the season in one of the biggest games of the season at the Emirates, as they lost to Arsenal 1-0.
Gunners blew the title race wide open and now Chelsea would be l*****g their lips as they visit Old Trafford next week. As a result, Arsenal are now 6 points adrift of Manchester United, while Chelsea remain just three points behind the leaders. If Chelsea
manage to beat United next week, they will be level on points, with two more games to play before the end of the season.
The match between Arsenal and Manchester United was built up to be the title decider between these two teams, not more than two to three weeks ago. But thanks to a number of draws and a recent loss to Bolton, Arsenal are all but out of the title race, while
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 have emerged as serious contenders to defend their title. The win has not helped Arsenal as much as it has helped Chelsea, and the city neighbours would be sure to send a bottle of champagne over at the Emirates.
Manchester United boss might have made the biggest mistake by not playing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ryan-Giggs-c31985 in the big game. This may be a lesson for the boss; one should not try to fix something if it’s not broken. Ferguson has had a somewhat tradition, over the years, of fielding
a predominantly British-oriented first-eleven in a big Premier League game. However, due to suspension, there was no http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Darren-Fletcher-c10361 was out due to injury and Giggs was saved by the boss for the big match against Chelsea next week.
The man who replaced Giggs in middle of the park was the Brazilian, Anderson, who is still finding his feet at United, even after almost 4 full seasons with the team. Anderson is not known for his play in midfield and was not able to hold his own and left
plenty of open spaces for the Arsenal attack to exploit.
Gunners were the dominant side throughout and Manchester United had their chances few and far in between. Two big penalty claims in the match may be the talking points at the end of the day. First was in the first half when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nemanja-Vidic-c27550 used his hand to
deflect a cross, while in the second half, United had a clear cut penalty denied when substitute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Owen-c25355, was brought down inside Arsenal box by Gael Clichy.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aaron-Ramsey-c3065, who side-footed it home past the diving Edwin van der Sar.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Antonio-Valencia-c6345 came on in the second half and injected some much needed pace into
their play, but the final ball was missing in the United attack.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dimitar-Berbatov-c11254, the league’s leading goal scorer - who had missed the last few games due to a groin problem - found himself on the bench. His introduction in the last 17 minutes, along with a final 6-minute cameo of Michael Owen also did not help United
get that elusive goal.
Now with three games left, the title race is well and truly alive and the only respite for United next week would be that they are at home against Chelsea and nothing less than a point from that game will keep their title aspirations alive.
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