EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

Chelsea could be out of the title race as they recently tied Wigan 1-1 at Stamford Bridge. They needed the win to compete with Manchester United for the League Title. Chelsea should have been ahead in the 5th minute when Salomon Kalou crossed the ball to Nicolas Anelka, who headed the ball wide. Minutes later, Essien provided a great through ball to Anelka but Wigan’s keeper Chris Kirkland quickly picked it up. Wigan fired back in the 19th minute with a back heel pass from Palacios Valencia who shot near post; Cech proved that even with his handicap (he received 50 stitches due to a collision with Tal Ben-Haim during practice and wore a protective mask during the game, Cudicini was out with a hamstring injury) he could produce fine saves.

While Chelsea was unimpressive in their game play they still pressured Wigan consistently until in the 55th minute Cole crossed the ball to Anelka who neatly gave it to Essien who capitalized. Cole’s presence was felt the moment he came in at half-time replacing Malouda. Cole almost scored again minutes later but missed by a few inches on a fierce shot. Unfortunately for Chelsea, Emile Heskey volleyed the ball into Chelsea’s goal in the 90th minute leaving them no time for vengeance.

Avram Grant was optimist that multiple wins could give Chelsea the edge. “Pressure can affect anybody. It can take you forward in a positive way but also you can see that even big players under pressure cannot play like they used to. It can be any team, any player. If we win every game I think we will win the title. But it’s not easy to win all the games. I said a week ago I didn’t believe Man United and Arsenal would do it, it’s not easy. I can’t say we are the best in England but I don’t think there is a team stronger than us. I will not say we are the best in the world, even though we want to be, but I can say when we have all our players I don’t see a team stronger than us.”

“I have told the players it has been a very difficult year and I don’t know if other clubs could have done what we have with all the injuries to big players, with the African Cup of Nations and with all the problems we have had. The atmosphere is good and we come to the last stage of the season with a very good opportunity to do the best things - we don’t want to miss it. The players know it’s a big opportunity and if I may say so, we deserve it after what we had this year.”

With only 4 games left, Chelsea now has 75 points to Uniteds 80. Chelsea’s hopes now remain on the game they will play against United Saturday, April 26th. Hypothetically, if Chelsea won they could have 78 points to Uniteds 80; then Chelsea would have to hope that United would lose a game.

• Manchester United’s last 4 games include Chelsea, Blackburn, West Ham, and Wigan.

• Chelsea’s last 4 games include Everton, Manchester United (at Stamford Bridge), Newcastle, and Bolton

Mathieu Flamini should be out for about three weeks with an ankle injury which he received during the Champions League match against Liverpool. Flamini was injured in the first half and replaced by Gilberto Silva.

Arsene Wenger described the injury and the situation Arsenal would be put in ahead of their game with Manchester United at Old Trafford this coming Sunday, “I believe Mathieu will be out for three weeks, manager Arsene Wenger told Arsenal TV Online on Thursday. It’s a big blow but Gilberto has a lot of quality and experience. He will come in. He can help the team recover and focus. Apart from that we don’t have any other injuries from Tuesday. We have a few bumps and bruises but nothing special. Robin van Persie is available. He had two good sessions yesterday and today. He looks to be OK and we’ll see how we go from here. But Bacary Sagna is out.”

He also said that Arsenal still had a distinct chance of winning the League; and if they did it would be one of his greatest victories. “It will be the greatest achievement of my career to win the Premier League now because we are swimming against the stream at the moment. For us the game on Sunday is the game of the season. If we do not win this game we have no chance. We will fight until the last second of the championship. It depends on what happens on Sunday. If we win then we can win the title and that’s what is important for us to focus on. What is at stake on Sunday is the work of a whole year. If we go there and don’t believe in ourselves then it is over. But do you really think that we will go to Manchester United thinking that our season is over? That would be ridiculous. We have worked extremely hard since the first day of the season against all the odds. We will fight until the last second of the championship, especially on Sunday. If we win on Sunday then realistically we can win the title.”

Sir Alex Ferguson provided his perspective. “Arsenal have had injuries. You can’t win games consistently without your best team. You just can’t do it, not at the level we’re at. You can’t get the best results without your best players. I think it is Arsenal’s injuries in the second half of the season that has made it difficult to rest players. It’s hard to recover from these things. If we beat them, it makes it difficult for them, no question. It’s difficult anyway because they’re six points behind us and three points behind Chelsea. With five games to go there’s not a lot of leeway and they can’t afford to drop anything really. But we have got to look at ourselves and make sure we keep motoring. Every game is a must-win now. We dropped two points last week and we need to win our games, it’s as simple as that.”

Manchester United will be playing Barcelona twice and Chelsea all within 7 days providing an interesting challenge for Ferguson.

Tomas Rosicky, the Arsenal midfielder who has been suffering from knee injuries for the past 2 months is not expected to recover in time for the last few games of the league season. The Czech International may not be able to play in the European Cup either; Arsene Wenger described the situation, “It is impossible to say when he will return. It is a frustration for me and him as well. He’s a very genuine guy who wants to play. Tomas has an absolutely genuine attitude and is 100% committed, but he’s just not ready. I want him to be happy and play as quickly as possible and if it is for Arsenal it is even better.”

“Surprisingly, today is the first day where he could run at a little bit higher pace than usual without any pain. We will have to see his evolution. ‘It has been nine weeks now with no significant evolution in his injury.”

In a surprising turn of events Ronaldinho’s representative (and brother) Roberto De Assis attended the Man City vs Chelsea game (0-2) and discussed Man City’s interest in Ronaldinho transferring with the Club Directors as they watched the game. Sven-Goran Eriksson expressed his delight about the occasion, ” We would be able to find a place in our team for him, I can guarantee that. I will phone the owners. It was a surprise, but if they want to package Ronaldinho for me I would accept him and be very happy.” Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra has already stated his intent to spend over €30 million to sign new transfers this summer. De Assis has also visited Inter Milan and AC Milan recently.

Ronaldinho has not had the best year at Barcelona and was just injured as the Champions League quarter finals ended and may be out for 6 weeks; claims have risen about his lack of commitment to Barcelona and that he has put on too much weight; the Brazilian has been suffering of knee tendinitis and a foot injury. Ronaldinho has only scored 9 goals this year in all of Barcelona’s matches (European, league and Cup). Ronaldinho has a contract that should last until 2010 with a buyout section which is extremely high; however, De Assis has threatened to call upon an unusual FIFA clause which could allow Ronaldinho to end his contract early. It’s still far to early to determine what will happen and it would be really surprising if Ronaldinho signed with a mid-tier EPL team.

Frank Rijkaard said, “He hasn’t let me down, I’m with him. I can’t be disappointed with him because he’s given so much to the organization and to the team.”

Manchester United played Middlesbrough (at home) only to have their league hopes put in jeopardy by Alfonso Alves. Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the 10th minute off a cross from Michael Carrick; he managed to slip away from his defender and shoot the ball in from the six yard box. 27 year old Brazilian striker Alves was the biggest threat to United, constantly pressing on defenders, who uncharacteristically, seemed to not be cohesive. Vidic was absent for the game and Ferdinand limped off in the second half, Ferdinand left with his foot in a protective case (upcoming games should be interesting with Vidic out for 2 weeks, Ferdinand out for an unknown time and United’s defense in disarray). Alves scored in the 35th minute to equalize the score and then again in the 56th minute. Rooney saved Manchester United from disaster in the 74th minute; JS Park neatly beat Taylor to cross the ball, Rooney capitalized.

In the end, it was apparent that Man Utd had barely escaped from a potentially disastrous game with Middlesbrough. United defense was completely rattled and Middlesbrough should have scored 3 goals with all the opportunities they had.

Ferguson described the game, “We could have lost the game there’s no question, they had some chances and at times our defending was a bit haphazard I thought. But at other moments we could have won the game because some of the quality of our football was terrific. At 1-0 we looked very strong, and were controlling the match and Wayne Rooney was unlucky to be given offside when he was clear through - it wasn’t offside. They changed the formation back to 4-4-2 got an equaliser and I thought it was a great game of football after that. It was end to end and both teams deserve great credit for producing a game of football like that at this time of year. At times we played some fantastic football but in the context of the game Middlesbrough also produced some great moments and it was just a fantastic game.”

With the lead between Chelsea and Man Utd limited to 3 points, Chelsea now has a good chance of winning the league; especially since Manchester United has to play Chelsea at home (Stamford Bridge).

English defender Ledley King will be out for the season as he attempts to recover from his knee-injury. King only managed to appear in 10 games this season. “My knee is actually feeling good at the moment and there is no inflammation, but we have to look at the bigger picture and accept that this is an ideal point in time to recover further, get best advice and make sure that I come back fitter”. With only six games left in the season its not worth playing and injuring his knee before its healed. “Their are six games I could well have taken part in, but we all believe this is worth doing for the longer term benefit.”

In 2002, after a superb performance in the World Cup in which he carried Germany to the finals, Ballack joined Bayern Munich from Bayer Leverkusen for a €12.9 million deal. (In 2002 and 2003 Ballack was given the German Football Player of the Year; in 2002 he also received the UEFA midfielder of the Year and the Soccer Digest World Player of the Year.)

Ballack agreed to join Chelsea from Bayern Munchen in May of 2006 despite rumors that Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan were interested in him. Soon after he began playing with Chelsea, Ballack obtained an ankle injury and was unable to play for 8 months. When he did play, he wasn’t in form and produced few results. His recent transfer to a new club in a different nation raised speculations as to whether he could adapt to the pace and style of the EPL. This, and the fact that he arrived at Chelsea around the same time as Andriy Shevchenko; with both players playing poorly and digging into Chelsea finances, many fans thought that Chelsea was just being used as a retirement for older stars. Though Ballack was signed on as a free transfer from Bayern, his €120,000 a week salary has earned him over €10 million since he transferred. Many wondered if Chelsea had spent a pretty penny on a star midfield who was past his prime. However, during the 2007/2008 season Chelsea experienced a series of injuries with Terry, Drogba, and Lampard all out; Ballack took the opportunity and stepped up. He began to dominate the midfield and score the important goals that fans expected of him. Once Lampard recovered from his injury the two seemed to work well together. “You have the feeling you’ve become a forgotten man and you have to start again from scratch after your return from a long injury. There is a need to prove yourself all over again, but all the frustration is history now and I can look forward with confidence.” The German International seems to finally have found his form at Chelsea, almost two years after he transferred from Bayern Munchen.

“I knew I would not be certain of a place in the side when I returned from injury. When you are at a big club like Chelsea and the competition for places is always so hot, the only answer is to deliver consistently and I’m confident I am up to the task. I’m pleased Avram Grant is putting his faith in me.” Avram Grant recently gave Ballack the Captains band when Terry was out with an injury increasing his confidence in his abilities.

“Naturally I’m very pleased with the way my return to the first team has gone. It makes all the difference in the world that I stepped into a side in an excellent run of form. From day one, it felt so good to be back and I’ve been fortunate to score a few important goals. Even though I’m not sure about my match fitness percentage-wise, I’m feeling stronger physically and mentally every day. I think the bad days are behind me now.”

At the beginning of this season West Ham started without Carlos Tevez, Yossi Benayoun and Marlon Harewood. This earned West Ham around €28 million; they used about €22 million to get new transfers. These include 20 year old French International Julien Faubert who was signed for €6.1 million from Bordeaux. Faubert would have been a great transfer this season if he hadn’t had his Achilles tendon injured during the pre-season only getting the opportunity to make 4 appearances.

West Ham also signed on 28 year old Craig Bellamy on a 5 year contract for €7.5 million from Liverpool; “I wanted to make sure that, if I left Liverpool, it would be to a club that is going to be pushing for Europe. I want to play in Europe, it’s important to me, and I felt that same drive and ambition here at West Ham… It was important for me to start playing regular football. I could sit at Liverpool as a squad player all day long, picking up my money, playing every now and then, but I’d be cheating myself and my personality.” However, the Welsh striker suffered a crippling groin injury at the beginning of the season having made only 8 appearances and 2 goals.

West Ham also signed on midfielder Scott Parker who suffered knee problems and Kieron Dyer who obtained a broken leg during the Carling Cup.

Alan Curbishley described the situation well: “Players left and they were replaced, but unfortunately for us the players who came in have not played enough football. In the first two weeks of pre-season last summer we had a training game with Parker, Faubert and Bellamy all in the same team. It looked quick, exciting and sharp. Then within a week or two, all three of them had gone. If they all get themselves back and fit, then we have got four or five new players already.”

As a result, Curbishley remains unsure about what type of transactions will be forthcoming during the summer. “If they all get themselves back and fit, then we have got four or five new players already. The big thing for me is hopefully we can get the guys fit for pre-season, so that I have got it in my mind the best squad when we start up again. That will obviously affect if we do anything in the summer.”

Recently, Curbishley has been starting 18 year old Freddie Sears. The young striker scored in his first game for West Ham; he brought Blackburn down in the 81st minute with an assist from Ashton. Sears also showed promise during his second game for West Ham as they played Everton. His speed and quick reactions produced chaos throughout Everton’s usually stout defense. We can expect Sears to only get better (though he could improve on his finishing) and to work well with Ashton.

The Football Association ignored FIFA’s latest call to increase Martin Taylor’s ban for the foul against Eduardo Da Silva. The FA ignored FIFA’s suggestion because their was no indication that the foul was intentionally committed. Martin Taylor received a 3 match ban for the foul he committed against the Arsenal player. Birmingham City was playing Arsenal when the 25 year old Croatian winger was severely injured by Birmingham City Defender Martin Taylor. Eduardo’s leg obtained a double compound fracture to the left fibula and tibia and the left ankle was dislocated. The foul occurred in the third minute and Taylor immediately received a red card. Since the event Fabregas has called for Taylor’s ban to be extended and Martin Taylor has received death threats.

A video of the foul can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmr49LNRum8&feature=related

Daniel Agger, the frustrated 23 year old Danish International with a metatarsal injury is to undergo surgery. Agger has only played 6 games this season and has been constantly plagued with injury. This rules him out for the UEFA Champions League and for crucial League hopes. The center backs place has been taken by Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel who was signed for €6 million in January of 2008. Agger is expected to be able to play next season

“It’s a blow for Daniel but we want to get his problem sorted. We have defensive cover and Martin Skrtel is playing very well, Daniel will be back for next season.”