EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

• Lineup:

Germany:
Jens Lehman
Christoph Metzelder
Arne Friedrich
Philip Lahm
Per Mertesacker
Thomas Hitzlsperger
Torsten Frings
Michael Ballack
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Miroslav Klose
Lucas Podolski

Spain:
Iker Cassilas
Carlos Marchena
Carles Puyol
Joan Capdevilla
Sergio Ramos
Xavi
Andres Inesta
Marcos Senna
Cesc Fabregas
David Silva
Fernando Torres

Michael Ballack will be playing; he suffered a calf injury during training 2 days ago. As this game begins we see a change in the lineup: Frings starting over Rolfes (who played horrible in the previous game and later fouled a Turkish player and injured himself). Also, Fabregas is starting because David Villa is out. Okay, this is probably the most ridiculous pre-game show: they have a huge tarp on the field with people dressed up in Alice in Wonderland style European costumes, people in large fake grocery bags, and some kind of balloon thing representing the brackets in the tournament.

Hahaha, Enrique Inglesias is singing. Why can’t the lightning strike the TV tower now??

For the first 15 minutes Germany had possession and the most chances. Then however, Spain took all the possession for about 8 minutes which climaxed when Torres jumped high in the air and headed the ball at the bottom left of Lehman’s goal and bounced off of the post and rolled out of the box.

Germany’s tall, lanky defenders look clumsy and slow compared to Torres. Multiple times Spain has given Torres through balls with German defenders running to follow up. In the end it paid up because as one was given to Torres he beat Metzelder and Lahm to chip the ball over Lehman who ran in sliding.

Germany is under a lot of pressure from Spain and their defending is really poor in the 65th minute but they hold on. KThe last 20 minutes of the game Germany really lost any flow they had; their defense is a joke. Minutes before the end of the game Schweinsteiger got the ball in front of the goal through some scrappy play and surely would have put it in but the referee made a bad call and gave Spain a free kick. Spain has won the Euro Cup 1-0 and they deserve it!!!!

After the end of the English Premier League season Manchester City went to Asia to play games with Club teams there. Their first game was against the Thailand-Premier All Stars. Unfortunately for City, they lost 3-1 to them as the former Primer Minister of Thailand and current owner of City Thaksin Shinawatra watched. Sven-Goran Eriksson is still managing City and is digging himself into a hole. The last game of the season City lost 8-1 against Middlesbrough. Then to top off the voyage to Asia, City played South China XI and again lost 3-1. All these losses help justify Shinawatra’s decision to sack Eriksson which we can expect to happen soon.

Manchester United versus Chelsea

United started with their strongest lineup with one unusual change: Hargreaves started in right midfield. In the 26th minute Scholes had the ball on the right wing. He was surrounded by 2 players until Brown came in to help, Scholes made a quick pass back to Brown (only a few yards away), who then passed it back and then made a run, Scholes immediately one touched it perfectly into Browns run who then took a touch and then made a curling cross. Ronaldo, covered by Essien, jumped into the air and then perfectly headed the ball with machine-like accuracy into the left side of the goal inches away from the post .

Minutes later, Ballack ran onto the box during a cross with Rio Ferdinand defending between Ballack and the goal. Ballack pushed Ferdinand’s head downwards almost forcing him into scoring an own goal. Ferdinand used great strength to keep his head up and head the ball over the goal. The ball came back into play near the United goal and Rooney stole the ball from Ballack. He took a step and then kicked the ball across almost the entire field to Ronaldo who ran all the way to the other side of the field with one defender on him. Rooney’s ball curled in to Ronaldo somehow perfectly who then made a short cross to Tevez who headed the ball low to the left of Cech from about 6 yards away. Somehow Cech managed to block it and it rebounded, rolling on the ground out of the penalty box. Carrick ran on it and fired away; the perfect opportunity for a center mid, Carrck shot it too close to Cech who once again blocked the ball.

In the 40th minute Tevez got a great ball from Rooney who crossed it by megging a defender. Tevez should have had it but missed the ball by inches. 2 minutes later Ferdinand elbowed a defender outside the box and got a yellow card and United got a free kick. Ballack took the shot but it went high over the wall and goal.

In the 45th minute, after a good amount of possession by Chelsea, Essien took a shot which deflected and landed into Lampard’s path (right in front of the goal) who then put the ball in. The lucky deflection gave Chelsea the chance to frustrate United.

In the 57th minute UEFA thought really hard about replacing the ball on the field because Ballack ripped a shot from 29 yards out when he got a clear opening on the goal. The ball went wide by a yard as it curled but it was a good time to take a shot and force United to pull their defense out more.

Chelsea really began to possess and push United back in the 2nd half and they probably got more opportunities. Ronaldo played largely perfect throughout most of the game and beat Essien multiple times on the wing.

But chances were available throughout the game just like when Drogba got the ball at the top of the United box and while falling, kicked a curling shot which hit the United right post. However, the game was destined to go into overtime with Giggs coming on for Scholes (who had a bleeding nose) 6 minutes before OT.

Three minutes in OT Lampard got the ball within the box, spun around and shot the ball to the top right and hit off the post. In the 96th minute the camera showed a bunch of really drunk Russian soldiers taking off their Jerseys and putting on United jerseys.

In the 100th minute Giggs got a clear shot on goal when Evra won the ball just outside the Chelsea box and pass it right backwards right over the PK area. Terry was there however and headed the ball over the goal preventing it from going in.

In the 116th minute, after every single player spread his legs and started stretching for some odd reason (after anyone thought they made a dumb foul they started stretching), an argument erupted between Tevez and every other player on the field. Tevez ended up getting a yellow card, Drogba a red card and Ballack a yellow card. Everyone seemed to be pushing each other as rain started falling with the referees trying to break it up. Drogba did lightly slap a United player in the face as the referee came up behind him. The arguments were an escalation of the entire game as their were many bad fouls and stupid tackles.

The game proceeds to Penalty Kicks:

Tevez took the first shot and kicked it the the right with Cech (wearing bright orange with his safety pad headpiece) diving to the Left.

Ballack fired esentially the same way as Van der Saar

Carrick, this time to the left. (The rain continued to fall)

Beletti (who just got subbed in for this purpose), this time to the right against Van der Saar.

Ronaldo against Cech, he kicked it to the left and Cech dove and blocked it!

Frank Lampard, to the right and Van der Saar almost stopped it!!

Hargreaves against Cech and he kicked it to hte upper left, Cech dove the right way but couldn’t get to it.

Ashley Cole against Van der Saar, he kicks it to the right and Saar almost stopped it, it may have been because of the rain.

Nani puts in an excellent kick against Cech.

John Terry against Van der Saar (for the win): HE MISSED!! He slipped last second and it hit off the right post!

It continues!!!

Anderson puts it in against Cech.

Malou puts it in against Saar.

Giggs puts it in against Cech.

Anelka shoots but its stopped by Edwin Van der Saar.

UNITED HAVE WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!! THEY HAVE OBTAINED THE DOUBLE!!! Players sag in relief and complete fatigue! Terry cries in the rain hugging Grant. Ronaldo falls to the ground.

The last few games of the season ended with Manchester United obtaining their 10th League Title. United played Wigan who were at home; some wondered if Heskey could once again cause an upset as e did against Chelsea. Ronaldo scored a penalty kick in the 33rd minute (his 31st EPL goal) and Giggs scored in the 80th minute (his 758th appearance for United). United enjoyed 67% of possession. Chelsea needed to win their own game and have United to lose or tie their game; in the end Chelsea was unable to get the win against Bolton, who they tied 1-1. United obtained the League Title by 2 points with 87, Chelsea had 85, Arsenal 83.

Other struggles were underway on the last day of games in the EPL; Tottenham had the opportunity to reach 10th place in the upper half of the League Table. Tottenham had 46 points in 11th place and West Ham had 48 points in 10th place. Both teams were fighting to earn an extra €720,000 in extra merit payment from the League. Tottenham were unable to secure the coveted upper tier table position because they lost to Liverpool 2-1 with Torres scoring his 33rd goal in all competitions. Benitez was proud of Fernando and exclaimed how his prolific scoring justified his approximately €20 million cost. “Always when you sign a player you do not know if he will settle down and how he will do in the Premier League, but Torres is a young player who is hungry and wanted to do well. Sometimes you sign a player for a free transfer and people say he is bad signing. Then other times you can sign a player for a lot of money and he does well and everyone is happy, so lucky for us he is a good signing. He is one of the best strikers in the Premier League and is the best for us. We had spoken about the record. After the last game he said he wanted to play in this one and score here.” West Ham managed to tie Aston Villa (who were fighting for a position in the UEFA Cup, they needed Everton to lose against Newcastle, however Newcastle lost 3-1) 2-2 in an exciting game with multiple great goals by Nolberto Solano, Dean Ashton, and Ashley Young. The extra money will certainly bolster West Ham for the coming season and transfer season.

For Liverpool this season has been a disappointment, despite all of Torres’ goals they were unable to produce any Trophies. “Torres, he was terrific at scoring and 76 points is a good total for us. There are a lot of positive things from this season, but the most important thing is we did not win a trophy. Our idea is to finish as high up as possible and to win trophies was a priority, but we know this season has been very difficult for us. We are working hard to improve the squad. Throughout the whole season we are watching players and trying to sign the players we need. We want to sign the best players as soon as possible and I think we will get investment from the owners, so we can go forward. Some of the players here are under contract and they are our players and we are waiting now to see if clubs are interested in them.” In the meantime we can certainly expect Peter Crouch to leave Liverpool, he wasn’t even on the bench and hasn’t played very many games this season. At least they finished with a win beating the Spurs 2-0.

In the meantime Fulham was fighting to stay in the Premier League. Reading and Fulham were both tied at 33 points (Fulham had them beat with on goal differential by 3). Fulham played Portsmouth, and Reading played Derby. Reading managed to destroy Derby (probably the worst team to ever play in the EPL) 4-0, and they would have stayed in the EPL if Fulham had lost or tied their game. Unfortunately for Reading, Fulham managed to win the game 1-0 with a season winning header by Danny Murphy.

Birmingham succeeded in winning against Blackburn 4-1 while at home; it mattered little because both Fulham and Reading won their games forcing Birmingham into relegation. However, if either Fulham or Reading had lost their games Birmingham could have stayed in the Premier League.

Sven-Goran Eriksson ended his season in humiliation as Manchester City lost a stunning 8-1 against Middlesbrough. “You can use whatever word you want and I would probably agree.” said Eriksson. “It started badly when Benjani was injured after just a couple of minutes. A little bit later penalty and a red card for our captain. I don’t think he (Dunne) tried to foul him. I think they crossed but it is difficult to be the ref in this case. It was a collision and it was the wrong place. I don’t think the ball has gone to the striker, it has gone straight to Isaksson but I think the referee maybe must send him off in a place like that.” Alfonso Alves scored 3 goals, Stewart Downing scored 2 (one off a penalty where Richard Dunne received a red card for a foul in the box in the 15th minute).

Rooney and Vidic were both out with injuries from the previous encounter with Barcelona last week, as a result Nani was on for Rooney but playing as a right midfielder, Ronaldo and JS Park started this time for United. Puyol returned in this game after being suspended, Marquez however was out. The game started very quickly with the Barcelona players attacking quickly and being cut down multiple times. But soon after that the game swung to and fro with both teams struggling to string passes together. However, in the 14^th minute Ronaldo threatened Barcelona about 5 yards outside of the box, with 2 defenders around him one of the defenders stole the ball but passed it right into the path of Scholes who rocketed the ball with the outside of his foot and into the top right of the Barcelona goal.In the 18^th minute Messi threatened against Brown with Scholes chasing behind; he ran towards the box and darted between them and shot a nice curling shot which could have easily gone in had Van der Saar not been paying attention. Deco threatened a couple times with hard shots missing which missed each time by a foot. Nani had a great chance in the 40^th minute when JS Park crossed the ball a few yards away from Valdez, Nani jumped up high and headed the ball; with the entire goal open to him he headed it wide. The 2^nd half was not remarkable and showed a few yellow cards but the end of the game was flawed by Patrice Evra’s injury. United won with 1-0 aggregate and moves on.

In a thrilling, potentially League Title deciding game, Chelsea succeeded in winning against Manchester United 2-1. Chelsea managed to stay unbeaten at Stamford Bridge (home) for 101 domestic games. “I know that they haven’t lost at Stamford Bridge for 100 games, but records are there to be broken. We will be going there to try to win the match” said Ferguson. United would have been able to lay claim to the League Title if they had won this game, but with their goal differential advantage they can be tied to Chelsea in points and still win the Title. But Ferguson would love nothing better than to defeat Chelsea at home and win the League Title. “We can’t afford to think that we can lose at Chelsea and still win it. We’ve got to think of winning there.”

Vidic got injured in the 14th minute when Drogba caught him in the face with his knee and Hargreaves came on for him. Chelsea should have grabbed the lead in the 20th minute when Joe Cole slipped away from the United defense and smashed the ball against the cross bar. But Michael Ballack produced a goal for Chelsea in the 45th minute when he was unmarked and headed in the ball from a Drogba cross. But Ricardo Carvalho gave away a free point when he passed the ball back right into Rooney’s path who ran around John Terry to score (55th minute). He seemed to injure himself in the process so Ferguson replaced him with Ronaldo. However, in the 84th minute Essien cross the ball into the United penalty box and Carrick handed the ball. Ballack took the PK and neatly put it in. Chelsea and United are now tied at 81 points though United has a much higher goal differential. Chelsea now needs to win their last 2 games and hope that United will tie or lose one of theirs.

Before the game Tevez described what he thought would be the biggest danger to Manchester United, fellow Argentinian: Lionel Messi. “Barcelona are one team with Messi but completely different without him. He is from another planet. He is very quick out of the blocks, he is a fantastic player. He is the main point of reference and the key man in the whole Barca team.” His prediction proved to be true throughout the entire game as Messi created a plethora of opportunities for Barcelona stringing 1-2’s around the United defense.

Massimo Busacca regulated this game at Camp Nou in Barcelona; which was full of fans and noise in this historic game. United started the game without Vidic who had a stomach flu. Wes Brown was a center defender with Ferdinand, Hargreaves played right fullback. Ronaldinho was still out with an injury.

It started off really exciting with a cross coming into the Barcelona box. Ronaldo jumped in to head the ball but missed slightly, Barcelona defender Milito jumped in awkwardly to head it out but the ball hit his upraised hands. A penalty kick was awarded in the 1st minute; Ronaldo took the PK but incredibly missed the goal by a foot to the right.

Lionel Messi continued to evade the United defenders darting quickly around and past them distributing the ball into and around the United Penalty area with multiple passes going a couple yards in front of the United goal. Milito consistently fouled people including Wes Brown on a corner and Cristiano Ronaldo in the midfield though the Referee didn’t call them. Barcelona dominated the first half of the game with the most possession and opportunities; United were unable to control in the midfield.

In the 28th minute Iniesta played the ball back, but Ronaldo intercepted it with a stretching touch of his foot. He raced towards it as it rolled into the penalty box, Marquez, the Barcelona defender who was on the receiving end of the pass tried to make up for Iniesta’s bad pass and got away with it. He ran towards the ball and cut off Ronaldo obstructing him and pushing him over in the box; it should have been a penalty kick especially since Marquez was the last defender but their was no call.

Ronaldo got a long pass from JS Park and ran on the Barcelona goal and was fouled by Marquez who got a yellow card in the 44th minute resulting in his temporary suspension for next game. At the end of the 1st half Barcelona had 66% possession; by the end of the game possession remained the same. With the high possession that Barcelona enjoyed they should have scored. Some speculate that it was actually Ferguson’s plan to lay back and defend against Barcelona in this game. Barcelona’s lack of goals was largely due to their inability to complete the last pass leading up to a shot. The final score was a tie at 0-0 with both teams wishing they had played better.

Liverpool midfielder John Arne Riise gave Chelsea the advantage in this game with a last minute own goal against Liverpool. Dirk Kuyt scored in the 43rd minute in a scrappy mess that described the entire game. Petr Cech did have to produce multiple fine saves to deny Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. 5 minutes into overtime Salomon Kalou quickly crossed the ball; it bounced into the 6 yard box in front of Riise. Riise had the opportunity to kick the ball but for some absurd reason decided to try to head the ball out, instead it quickly shot past the Liverpool keeper. Riise certainly needed to clear the ball as Drogba was right behind him and certainly would have put it in but his absurd header cost Liverpool dearly. Liverpool had the lead for over 45 minutes and were looking to get away with a game at home without giving out ‘away’ points for Chelsea until the ridiculous clearance. It could cost Liverpool dearly, momentum will certainly be for Chelsea as they are playing at home with the away goal advantage.

Hopes for the League Title are still alive for Chelsea as Manchester United tied Blackburn. Roque Santa Cruz scored for Blackburn in the 21st minute; Carlos Tevez scored in the 88th minute to tie it up. Without Tevez’s late equalizer United could have been in serious trouble ahead of their game with Chelsea. They would have been only 2 points ahead of Chelsea who might have gained the lead in points if they had hypothetically won their game against United. United were clearly not playing creatively in this game with chances on both sides throughout the game. Ronaldo almost tied the score in the 64th minute with a shot that beat Friedel but came off the post.

As Chelsea prepares to play United next weekend (April 26th) they go in knowing that if they beat United they could win the League Title. The pressure only increases on United players; the tie with Blackburn brings the points for United to 81 and Chelsea to 78. If Chelsea win the game against United next weekend they could tie up the score. The only problem is that United has a higher goal differential than Chelsea (goal differential settles ties with the team with the highest goal differential coming ahead; it is based on the sum of the number of goals scored against your team (negative) with the number of goals scored against other teams (positive)). Chelsea currently has +36 to Manchester United’s +54. As a result, if Chelsea does win next weekends game, and the following games, they will have to hope that United will tie or lose one of their last 2 games: West Ham at Old Trafford or Wigan at JJB Stadium.

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