Football update – The big winners of the week
Manchester United
The last time Manchester United lost a game at home against West Ham was back in 2006-07 season when Tevez inspired a 2-1 Wigan win on the night, with Manchester United lifting the Premier League trophy and Hammers surviving the drop by the skin of their teeth sending down Sheffield United.
Since that day Manchester United have only lost four games at the Theatre of Dreams and have won 51 out of the 59 games that they have played.
Manchester United are looking to take their title back from Chelsea and with the London Blues setting the pace early on, it is exactly this kind of home form that is needed by United if they are to surmount a substantial challenge for the title.
Another positive thing for the Red Devils at the weekend was the work-rate of Dimitar Berbatov; the usually languid and flat yet classy Berba was like a live wire in the match and capped a great performance by a stunning scissor kick goal.
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney finally beat the hoodoo and score, although from the penalty spot but the goal will give the striker much needed confidence boost as he dismissed a damned run of 13 games for club and country without scoring a single goal.
Although scoring one penalty doesn’t exactly make a player a big winner of the weekend but this just might be the goal that sets the avalanche in motion.
Chelsea
For the third time in as many weeks the London blues are among the big winners of the weekend, as they once again chalked up a win to remain the only side in the Premier League to remain unbeaten. Even fortune has been kind to the London blues as their midweek away CL fixtures against MSK Zilina and Spartak Moscow are followed by home games against Wolves and Blackpool. The game against Marseille is followed by an away fixture but the sixth game in a straight forward group as Chelsea’s Ancelotti will not be worried that much and can even afford to send his reserves to France for the game.
The times are certainly very good for Chelsea as everything they touch turns to gold these days, seems like they just can’t put a foot wrong. But one thing that might be noteworthy is the fact that opening three games against Wigan, Stoke and West Brom are hardly anything to judge any teams character and title credentials but nonetheless the three emphatic victories will give them enormous confidence boost and not to mention an already better points tally.
The true test for Chelsea is yet to come as they face Manchester City and Arsenal back-to-back at the end of September and at in December they will face Spurs, Toffees, Red Devils, and Gunners again. That will surely be an acid test for Chelsea and if they can manage to come away from those fixtures unscathed then surely they will hand at least one hand on the trophy.
But at the weekend it was another routine performance by Ancelotti’s men, as they now have gone 586 minutes in the League without conceding a single goal and the score line from their last six games stands at 31-0.
Aston Villa
Villa in the absence of Martin O’Neil and on the back of a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Newcastle would have been the first Premier League club in crisis, had they lost to Everton on the weekend but a fortuitous win against the Toffees sees them still occupying the coveted fourth spot in the League as the campaign takes sabbatical.
Villa have been very lucky so far in the Premier League but their frailties were brutally exposed in the Europa League qualifier against Rapid Vienna as they lost to the Belgians.
So far Villa have survived without a manager but to expect them to go further more will be pushing their luck, and Randy Lerner will be aware of this fact but for the moment Villa are in the fourth spot, and after win over Everton they also are one of the big winners of the week.
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