Opportunities Arising

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Yesterday, Manchester United threw down the gauntlet.

Heading in to the interval 1-0 down against Steve Bruce's Sunderland - a side Chelsea dominated in a 3-1 mauling at the Stadium of Light - United managed to turn the game around and scrape a highly-undeserved point out of the match. Sunderland were truly terrific; Darren Bent and Kenwyne Jones were in electric mood, each scoring a brilliant goal past a somewhat hapless Ben Foster. Those goals sandwiched a stupendously good goal from Dimitar Berbatov, whose overhead volley left Craig Gordon's fingertips grasping at thin air. Sunderland look set to claim a famous victory, their first at Old Trafford since 1968, only for Patrice Evra's shot to be deflected in deep into injury time. It was another last-minute reprieve for the champions of England.

And underlines exactly why they strolled to the Premier League title last term. United were terrible. Their passing was off, with Darren Fletcher and Paul Scholes in particular at fault. Nani and Valencia were absolutely wretched; the former a poor man's Ronaldo on an off-day, and the latter a footballer who looks totally out of his depth at Old Trafford. Ben Foster was terrible, making error after error, and it was through his indecision that Jones headed Sunderland ahead in the second half.

But, in spite of both a poor United display and a terrific showing from the Sunderland players, the champions rallied and secured a point. That is the sign of a very, very good team - a team that is able to scrape an inch of quality and earn themselves a point. Deserved or not is the question, but that is all elementary. The fact of the matter is that Manchester United are top of the Premier League, and Chelsea have the chance to leapfrog them this afternoon.

An apparent habit amongst Chelsea squads of yesteryear was, when presented with a chance to take or extend a lead at the top of the table, the team would often succumb to the pressure and fail to make full use of the opportunity in front of them. That is something Carlo Ancelotti's mean must rectify even at this early stage in the season. In a Premier League campaign that is as competitive and even as any in recent memory, taking advantage of these slip ups is a necessity. Not only can Chelsea go two points clear of the champions with victory today, but they will also have resigned Liverpool to a third defeat of the season, with just eight games played.

In truth, none of the so-called 'Big Four' have reached their best this season. Liverpool were irresistible against Hull City last week but have faltered away from home with unconvincing displays at Bolton and Tottenham. Arsenal have already been humbled by title pretenders Manchester City and struggled to three points against Fulham seven days ago. Manchester United, as already mentioned, surprisingly dropped points against Sunderland after already losing to Burnley at Turf Moor. Chelsea fell foul of Wigan last week, but a confidence-boosting win away in Nicosia will do nothing but good for Ancelotti's men.

But beating Liverpool is no easy feat. Chelsea have failed to beat Rafael Benitez' side in the Premier League since Didier Drogba's turn and volley secured them three points in September 2006. In last season's corresponding fixture, Xabi Alonso's deflected goal gave Liverpool all three points and broke Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea might have avenged that particular defeat with a 3-1 thrashing at Anfield and then coming from 2-0 down to salvage a 4-4 draw in the Champions League, but it is fair to say the Blues owe Liverpool a good beating in the Premier League.

Chelsea haven't even managed to score past Jose Pepe Reina from open play in their last five attempts - with Frank Lampard's penalty the only response to two 2-0 defeats at Anfield, a 0-0 draw and the aforementioned 1-0 triumph to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge last term.

If ever Chelsea needed an incentive to win a game of football, they've been offered not one, but several. Chelsea need to get back to winning ways, and still owe Liverpool for the Premier League double they recorded over them in 2008/09. But the biggest of all is United's failure to beat Sunderland. Victory for Chelsea puts them top of the table but two points, and would be their eleventh triumph out of twelve this season. Lose and Liverpool will overtake them, and Chelsea could fall as low as third if Manchester City beat Aston Villa.

The stakes are high - its about time we benefited from them. Keep the faith.

[Laylabelle 9,305]

Hmm we seem to mess up when other teams mess up so hopfully this time be differnt!

But even if we do loose,Scumboes be level on points and above us on goal diff so not to bad

But hopfully wont come to that..lets just trash them/just win and get things going again