Champions League Review

The four Premiership representatives enjoyed mixed fortunes in the Champions League this past week. Liverpool and Manchester United were the big winners with excellent wins away from home over Barcelona and Lille respectively. Chelsea earned a creditable 1-1 in Portugal whilst Arsenal were hugely disappointing and lost 1-0 in Eindhoven. The bottom line is that with the second legs only a fortnight away, there is still a chance that all four Premiership clubs could still qualify for the quarter finals.

Liverpool will grab all the headlines for their 2-1 win in the Nou Camp and rightly so. The win followed a turbulent week for the Merseyside club which saw Craig Bellamy (the nutter with the putter) and Jon Arne Risse plastered (no pun intended) across the tabloids for their involvement in a drunken training camp incident. Credit to the two players involved for answering the critics with the two goals that won the game for Liverpool. However, it was superb performances from Mohamed Sissoko and Xabi Alonso in midfield along with Jose Reina and Jamie Carragher at the back which formed the backbone of Liverpool's victory.

Whilst the reds win will be lauded throughout England, it is important to remember that Barcelona are a pale shadow of the team which won the Champions League last season and put in a truly woeful performance. The hullabaloo surrounding Samuel Eto'o didn't help the Catalans in the build up the game and in truth; the overall team performance against Liverpool was wretched. It would appear that Rijkaard's influence over the Barca dressing room has completely evaporated and a change of management may well occur at the end of the season. Liverpool may indeed qualify for the next round but Rafael Benitez knows there are sterner tests ahead in Europe and an improved performance is needed if Liverpool are to have any chance of repeating their 2005 heroics.

Liverpool Captain and England international, Steven Gerrard had a poor game by his own high standards and his attempted tackle on Zambrotta for the home sides' opening goal summed up his overall performance. It is now certain that Alonso and Sissoko are Benitez's preferred central midfield partnership in Europe and Gerrard will have to put up with playing wide on the right for the remainder of Liverpool's campaign to accommodate his manager's wishes. The signing of another central midfielder - Javier Mascherano from West Ham - is yet another sign that Gerrard has failed to win Bentiez over with his central midfield performances so far this season.


Manchester United's win in France was overshadowed by events off the pitch as well as Ryan Giggs controversial winner. Reports of a heavy handed Police presence, coupled with disturbing images of fans attempting to escape crowd congestion scaling the barrier fences was an eerie reminder of darker days in English football. Whether Gigg's goals was within the rules of the game or not is irrelevant now as the game has been completed.

United's performance was patchy to say the least. Remember this is a Lille side who are the lowest ranked team of the remaining clubs in this year's competition. Sir Alex Ferguson will be delighted with an away win in Europe and can point to a series of missed chances that could and should have guaranteed them a bigger winning margin. United did just enough to get past Lille in the first leg but will need to find at least two extra gears if they are to have any hope of progressing past the remaining sides in the quarter finals.



Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Porto was tempered by the loss of John Terry to a suspected ligament injury which could sideline the Blue's captain for up to six weeks. Jose Mourinho will be delighted with the away goal and should have done enough - even without his talismanic captain - to progress further in the competition. Chelsea are another club who have been hogging the headlines for all the wrong reasons this season with the well publicised spat between the Chelsea manager and the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich. Still, in a Carling Cup final, still in the FA Cup and Champions League and only 6 points behind a tiring Manchester United leaves the Londoners in a healthy position going into the final months of the season.

Andry Shevchenko's goal was a prime example of why Chelsea were willing to pay 30million for the Ukrainian striker. Shevchenko will need to repeat his goal scoring exploits in the remaining rounds of the competition if he is to truly justify his transfer fee after a disappointing first season at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have done enough to qualify for the quarter finals, provided they can keep a clean sheet at home in the second leg.



Arsene Wenger will not be too disappointed to be only a goal down going into his side's second leg at home to PSV Eindhoven. A tired looking Arsenal failed to breach the PSV defence. The Gunners were eventually undone by a superb 20 yard strike from PSV's Edison Mendez. While the Arsenal manager might be concerned with his team's second half performance in particular, he will hope the wide open pitch at the Emirates Stadium will allow his side to create more opportunities than they managed last night.

The North Londoners should have had enough quality to break down a stubborn PSV defence but failed. Fabregas looked like a player badly in need of a break but will have to wait as Arsenal have a series of important fixtures coming up. Henry was well marshalled throughout and is still to reach the heights of some of his European performances last year. Overall, 1-0 is not a bad result but Arsenal cannot afford to give away any goals in the second leg.

The questions to be answered are (a) can the Gunners manage to keep a clean sheet and (b) do they have enough firepower up front to score the goals to qualify for the next round.

Premiership Title Race

Both Manchester United and Chelsea won at home in the Premiership over the past weekend. The two heavyweights of the division look set to battle for the title right up until the final weekend of the season with only a 6 point gap currently separating the sides. Chelsea defeated Middlesbrough 3-0 at Stamford Bridge with Didier Drogba starring in a hard fought victory. Manchester United accounted for Charlton at Old Trafford with goals from Park Ji Sung and Darren Fletcher. Despite the lop-sided score lines, neither United nor Chelsea had it easy and were made to work hard for their three points by impressive displays from both Charlton and Boro.

The wins mark both Ferguson and Mourinho’s men as deserving title candidates this year. Winning ugly is the hallmark of any true champion but winning while not playing to your optimum is imperative if you are to have any hope of laying claim to the Premiership. Whilst United have had a relatively injury free season, Chelsea have had to rely on their other squad players to keep them within touching distance of United.

Back to back Premiership titles have hardened Chelsea and even without their talisman at centre back John Terry and goalkeeper Peter Cech for much of this season, they have managed to stay in the title hunt. The English press go on about Frank Lampard and Joe Cole but it is only now the true value of the likes of Essien, Ferreira and even Wayne Bridge are being displayed as a result of the Chelsea injury-list.

Man United have been lucky with an abnormally low injury count this season. The stability the team has enjoyed is reflected in their recent run of results. Ferdinand and Vidic have developed a tough centre back pairing in recent months. Scholes and Carrick have been at the hub of all United's best performances in the centre of the park. Up front, Rooney has dove-tailed nicely with both Larsson and Ronaldo to the point where Alex Ferguson has had the luxury of affording his mercurial winger a week off in Dubai recently.

There are surely more twists and turns to come before this season's Premiership is finally decided. Chelsea have their top players back and are sure to make a late surge but the safe bet for now is for the 06/07 title going back to Old Trafford.