Manchester United and Alex Ferguson sent a message to the rest of Premier League yesterday and, I would suspect in particular, to the Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez. Man Utd beat Chelsea easily 3 - 0 at Old Trafford on Sunday in the English Premier League's big game of the weekend. Ferguson, if he didn't already, now believes his club can catch Liverpool and retain the title by beating the other teams at the top of the table.
This was Man Utd's and Ferguson's, first win over the other potential title contender this season. Earlier in the week Ferguson had, somehow, unsettled Benitez, the Liverpool manager. So much so in fact, that the Spaniard launched into a pre-meditated diatribe against Ferguson in his Friday press conference about his alleged influence over officials. In reply to what the Liverpool manager's attack, Ferguson said after the game yesterday, "I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he will reflect and understand that what he is saying was absolutely ridiculous. He is an angry man and I think he was disturbed for some reason or another -- that is all I've got to say about it."
Chelsea
Ferguson is certainly the master of the mind games and it would appear that he has certainly won one over on Benitez. The Premier League game between the two famous rivals at Old Trafford in March will be interesting to see how the two react with each other, never mind the fact the result of that game could go along way to deciding the final destination of the Championship.
Anyway, so far this season Utd have already drawn 1 - 1 with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in September, drawn 0-0 at Villa in November, and lost away to both Arsenal and Liverpool. However, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal all still have to visit Old Trafford and it looks like Man Utd are starting to time their push for the top with perfection again.
It was Man Utd's central defender Vidic who headed the opener just before half-time then strikers Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov scored one each as United. The win now means that Utd are only one point behind Chelsea.
United now have 41 points, which is still five behind Liverpool, but the current champions have two games in hand over their rivals. United can therefore move into first place should they beat Wigan and Bolton later this week.
However, back at Old Trafford it was a poor day at the office for Chelsea and their boss Phil Scolari who had previously said this match was absolutely crucial to his team's chances of regaining the championship they last won in 2006. Perhaps he put too much pressure on his players as Chelsea failed to get a single shot on target, even playing with three strikers for the final 10 minutes.
Scolari has seen his future come under increased speculation in the British press in recent weeks with some poor results. His team has stumbled against the backdrop of alleged unrest in the dressing room, as well as financial restrictions in the transfer market during the January window due to the current financial crisis.
Scolari said, "Now is the time for me and my players to think about our future: have we lost everything or are we men and do we improve? It's only this way or the second way is death.
"We know, all the fans know and the press knows if we play like the second half we won't arrive." His English still isn't too good but you can certainly understand what he means.
Chelsea have only won one of it's last five Premier League games, which is hardly championship form. Chelsea's next game is in just three days when they visit Southend in an FA Cup 3rd round reply. Should Chelsea lose that game, the alarm bells will certainly be ringing in south west London!
There was also a very interested spectator at Old Trafford yesterday. Jose Mourinho, the former Chelsea manager, now the coach at Inter Milan was sat in the stands. Inter of course are due to play Man Utd next month in the last 16 of this season's UEFA Champions League. He must have been glad he wasn't still in charge of Chelsea however, Man Utd's performance will certainly have given him something to think about ahead of his return with Inter.
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